"Let the Ministry of Infrastructure build forts and trenches in Lianzhou in case of accidents."

Li Xi was very unaccustomed to the tactics of building forts at home, but after receiving an urgent report from Chenzhou, the people of several provinces in Hunan were besieging Chenzhou under the command of Yongzhou Town, and he had no bottom in his heart. In the event of a defeat of the Huben army, Shaozhou and Wang Tanghe's Huanggangshan Fort Battalion acted as the second direction, but the Lianzhou direction was a gap. If the Longxiang army can't come back and let the Hunan soldiers enter Yingde from Lianzhou, it will really capsize in the gutter.

The reason why Li Xian was so pessimistic that he prepared for the defeat of the Tiger Ben Army was not all from the Tiger Ben Army itself, but some of the seizures presented by Luo Tangyuan gave him a new assessment of the enemy in front of the Tiger Ben Army, and he also understood that his previous accusations against the Tiger Ben Army were very problematic.

At this moment, Li Xian was fiddling with something in his hand, and Tian Dayou on the opposite side was full of complicated emotions.

"I actually used bronze to make a flint machine, and I also used iron wire as a gun spring, and Hunan is really a skilled craftsman."

The musket flintlock machine used by the Anglo-Chinese armies today was originally designed by Ta Daiyu, and has been improved for several generations. Relying on the improved materials and craftsmanship, the structure is simpler and more reliable. But the Hunan craftsmen painted the tiger according to the cat, and even took bronze and iron wire to knock out the Yinghua-style flint machine, and Tian Dayou was naturally very unwilling.

"Don't look down on them, they look like them, but they don't work the same way."

Luo Tangyuan picked up a musket, the handle of the gun was still in the shape of the strange cane, and it took a lot of effort to pull the trigger, and the body of the gun also shook.

This is the Minyong musket captured by the Tiger Ben Army when it entered Hunan, the local blacksmith adapted measures to local conditions, using bronze to make flint machine parts, and using iron wire instead of the steel spring of the bolt machine. The barrel material and forging process are the same, and with the traditional powdered gunpowder, the range and power are not much stronger than those of the previous arquebuses.

But this kind of knock-off musket is a kind of progress after all, and it is much better than the previous arquebus. The Tiger Ben Army paid 100 casualties in the attack on the Chenzhou Mansion, which sent an extremely dangerous signal, and under the impetus of the "Hunan Gang of Four", the Hunan people broke free from the shackles of the official face and began to learn the advanced technology of the British and Chinese Army.

The gap between the two sides is overall, and there is no Foshan Iron and Steel and Dongguan Machinery behind Hunan Minyong, no musket tactical experience accumulated by Li Xi for several years, and no rudimentary group of non-commissioned officers to control the grassroots. But the tenfold enemy, the weapons in his hands are upgraded, this pressure is not child's play, which is why Li Shi did not dare to pin all his hopes on the Tiger Ben Army.

"Lianzhou is to be defended, but the Tiger Ben Army is not so incompetent, the guy in their hands is brand new."

Tian Dayou saw Li Shi's worries and comforted him in a direction he was familiar with.

"Don't worry, the morale of the officers and soldiers below the battalion level is very high, I don't think it's worse than the other three armies, maybe there will be a unique battalion in this battle."

Luo Tangyuan witnessed the siege of the Tiger Ben army and felt that the situation would not be so bad.

"Morale is the hearts of the people, and what we are afraid of is the hearts of the people in Hunan."

Li Xian muttered in his mouth, as soon as he mentioned Hunan Minyong, he naturally thought of the Hunan army, which was a psychological shadow. Whether the Tiger Ben Army can withstand it is not only related to the safety of Shaozhou, but also related to the next move. But the forehand and side hands are all scattered, and now I can only sit and wait for the situation to clear.

Outside the east gate of Chenzhou, several breastworks had just been erected, and Mu Changjiang Qiudao, under the wing of the rear camp of the Tiger Ben Army, was wiping his musket. The black barrel, the hard and thick butt, and the whole gun still exude a freshly factory smell, which is the smell of fireworks mixed with grease.

With a lift of the thumb, the lid of the medicine pool clicked and bounced up to position, which was a way of insurance. Pull the trigger, the force is sensitive and tenacious, and the pool cover springs back. Pull up the faucet again, and flick the trigger forward slightly, this is the state of readiness, Jiang Qiudao sighed at the exquisite intentions of the craftsman, and it is no longer the design that had to dial the excess insurance before.

Fingers turned around the muzzle of the gun, extremely smooth, inserted the spear, and made a spurt motion, Jiang Qiudao sighed with satisfaction, finally there is a guy who can sleep on his pillow. When I was first transferred from the Eagle Yang Army to the Tiger Army, what was issued to my hand was actually a thing that was transformed from a green camp bird gun and called a "bird gun" by the officers and soldiers.

Yongli musket, this is the first batch of standard muskets produced by the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau after it was on the right track. The spear was four feet long, and with a one-and-a-half-foot spear, it was a head taller than a man, and although it was half a foot shorter than the previous musket, it was more comfortable to shoot and more agile to fight. The whole gun weighs about eight pounds, which is also more than a pound lighter than before. 【1】

Faintly heard the roar of artillery in the west and south, the gunfire was like rain, Jiang Qiudao hugged the gun, and sighed regretfully, the Qing soldiers attacked from the west and the south, and then most of them had to attack the north, but they had been idle in the east, and this gun was useless.

"Wing Length!"

The subordinates stepped forward to salute, Jiang Qiudao got up lazily, and saluted so-so, the person who came was his elder brother Jiang Dedao, who was now the acting wing commander of the left lieutenant, and ran to his position for this purpose, obviously not worrying about his younger brother.

"Jiang Qiudao! Don't be so lazy! Are you the same when the enemy hits you? ”

Jiang Dedao scolded his younger brother, who bowed his head and confessed his guilt very insincerely.

"It's not like I deliberately picked on you to thorn you, since it's my younger brother, I have to show that you are more powerful than others!"

Seeing his younger brother's rebellious appearance, Jiang Dedao hated and nagged.

"I know, I'm also the Holy Martial Society Mentor of this wing, isn't there no enemy now? The art of war, one by one, the way of civil and martial arts, now we have to let everyone relax as much as possible, and only when the war starts, can we be strong. ”

Jiang Qiudao stood up to his brother neither softly nor hard, and the soldiers around him all laughed lowly, and it was a routine for the brothers to quarrel.

"If you don't enter the Heavenly Punishment Society, you will go around in circles in the Holy Martial Society, which is really not motivated!"

is not as clever as his younger brother's tongue, Jiang Dedao had to change the topic.

"The reason of the Holy Martial Arts Society is enough, we are soldiers, in addition to serving the country loyally, why do we need to know so much? What is the way of heaven, wait until you want to be an official, or when you are studying, you will ponder it. ”

Jiang Qiudao muttered, Jiang Dedao was in a hurry, but he couldn't say anything big for a while.

Seeing that this quarrel would end in the defeat of his brother, there was a sudden sound of gunfire like bursting beans in the northeast, and by the time the horn of the emergency warning sounded, the herald of the battalion headquarters had already found Jiang Dedao.

"Su Xianling found that the Tartar officers and soldiers were dragging artillery, intending to set up artillery on the ridge to bombard the city, and your troops immediately attacked Su Xianling! Expel the enemy and hold on to the spot! ”

The order was urgent, and Jiang Qiudao was very angry.

"I have already told General Xie that he wants to occupy Su Xianling, but he doesn't do it! Say that the troops are not enough and cannot be dispersed, but now it is good, and it is a dull stick to be beaten! ”

The so-called "General Xie Shen" is naturally Xie Dingbei, the acting commander of the battalion, and the grassroots officers in the battalion are not very interested in this battalion leader, and there are many slanders about his decision-making.

Complaining is complaining, but orders cannot be disobeyed. Su Xianling is only three or four miles away from Chenzhou City, even if it is an old cannon of the Qing court, setting up Su Xianling, it will also pose a major threat to the Tiger Ben army defending the city, after all, the Hu Ben army now only has a light eight-pound small cannon.

The situation was urgent, Jiang Dedao called his subordinates, and more than 300 people lined up in an army and rushed towards Suxian Ridge in the northeast.

Su Xianling is not high, Jiang Dedao's part quickly rushed to the top, and then saw a hundred steps away from the slope, there was a dense crowd of people, so that Jiang Dedao's scalp was also numb, and there were more than ten wooden carts in the distance, all dragging more than 1,000 catties of cannons.

"Each sentry column is stacked horizontally! Flying cannon, the longest distance boom! Assault soldiers, cover the sentry and retreat! ”

Jiang Dedao almost subconsciously issued a series of orders, which were at least two or three thousand Qing troops, firing from a hundred paces of shotguns and small cannons, and pressed the more than ten outposts in the battalion headquarters to the point that they could not raise their heads.

The armored assault soldiers rushed forward in the rain of bullets, raised their shields, and shielded the sentinels from retreating, and in the muffled sound of the flying cannon, the flowering bullets fired by the flying cannons swept over their heads, exploding in the sky a hundred paces away, and immediately swept the crowd of people in the distance several gaps.

Then, the two rows of guns on the top of the slope were like a continuous wave, and the two waves of bullets were splashed away, and a clear and neat line of blood splashed in front of the Qing army a hundred paces away, and at least sixty or seventy people were planted on the spot, frightening these Qing troops to roll away like a low tide.

"That's at least ten times the enemy!"

There was still green smoke from the muzzle of the gun, and the soldiers subconsciously shot out the first row of guns, and then they saw that there were two or three thousand enemy troops in front of them, and their hearts were shocked, and their eyes were about to smoke.

"What are you afraid of tenfold!? This kind of tofu dregs is not afraid of a hundred times! ”

Jiang Qiudao scolded his subordinates.

"This is an officer and soldier, and it's all a dish as much as you come! Just be careful of their cannons, sharpshooters, wait for the gunner's head to explode, see if they dare to bombard us! ”

Jiang Dedao is also sorting out the military morale of his subordinates.

From the wing length to the eye length, they are all veterans with actual combat experience, and the routines have been practiced and familiarized. The whole wing of men and horses pressed forward a hundred paces, forcing the Qing army to retreat a mile away, and all of them were desperately digging ditches and cutting down trees under the reprimand of the officers, and began to pile up the breastwork along the lines drawn by Jiangde Road, which was the basic lesson of defensive warfare.

The Qing army reacted quickly, and without waiting for Jiang Dedao's wings to complete the breastwork, they began to attack again. They did not dare to set up artillery, for fear that they would not have time to transfer and be taken away by the British and Chinese troops who came to help, so they used small cannons to bombard, and then rushed to the shotgunners and archers, and shot desperately at a hundred paces away.

His subordinates were cheering, but Jiang Dedao frowned, he saw that the Qing army was dividing its men and horses and moving towards the left and right sides of Suxian Ridge.

"Let General Xie send someone to help and completely repel this group of Qing troops!"

Jiang Dedao was able to rise to the rank of wing commander, and he also had basic tactical literacy, so he felt that the situation was not good, his wing was in a hurry, not only did the position not succeed, but also did not bring enough ammunition, and it would be troublesome to be surrounded.

"I hope that Xie Shen will be more reliable......"

He was looking forward to it.

"Reinforcements!? No! I can only make sure that his back road will not be cut off, and now that tens of thousands of enemy troops are pressing down on the east side, I have to guard against them! ”

Xie Dingbei is really unreliable, but he also has no choice, there are tens of thousands of enemy troops who should be Minyong in front of him, and he only has a thousand people in his hands, and it is difficult to support Su Xianling.

"Damn it, Xie Tartar! He couldn't see that those 10,000 people were also coming for Su Xianling!? ”

Knowing that he was going to be attacked on three sides, Jiang Dedao scolded.

"Isn't that right? Our three hundred warriors made a name for themselves in this Suxian Ridge, and they died in such a battle, which can be regarded as heroic. ”

Jiang Qiudao happened to be beside his brother, clenched the musket in his hand, and said disapprovingly.

"There is nothing to be afraid of officers and soldiers, but those Xiangyong are troublesome."

Jiang Dedao gritted his teeth and hated, obviously quite worried.

"It doesn't matter if you die in battle, I'm afraid that you will die worthless, or be killed by a superior official who doesn't know whether he is stupid or has ulterior motives."

(To be continued)