Chapter 102 Xu Guangjin: Are foreigners interfering in the internal affairs of the Qing Dynasty?
The expression on Xu Guangjin's face kept changing.
Just as the uneasiness and fear in his heart were intertwined and continued to brew and spread, a master beside him suddenly said.
"Don't panic, Governor. The big ball floating above the bandits has nothing to do with ghosts or gods. It is a Western wonder called a hot air balloon."
"As early as the Qianlong period, French engineers invented the hot air balloon and even demonstrated it publicly in front of the king."
"The bandits' hot air balloon must have been obtained from Westerners as a trick. Your Excellency, don't be alarmed."
The legal advisor beside Xu Guangjin was named Wu Chonghui, an important figure in the Wu family, the head of the Thirteen Hongs in Guangzhou. He was a cousin of Wu Chongyao, the current head of the Wu family.
When he was young, Wu Chonghui followed a merchant caravan to sea, crossed the ocean to visit Western countries and experienced Western customs, which gave him a lot of insights.
So, when he saw the hot air balloon, he was able to recognize it the first time.
Upon hearing this, Xu Guangjin was visibly relieved and turned around to ask.
"Is this true?"
Wu Chonghui nodded immediately.
"How dare I deceive you? Everything I said is absolutely true."
Xu Guangjin took a deep breath and then spoke loudly.
"Inform the entire army immediately and tell them that the big ball hanging above the enemy soldiers is a Western wonder, not a ghost or god descending from the earth. Don't panic."
Soon, the notice was passed down.
However, the effect is not obvious.
The illiterate soldiers below did not believe what Xu Guangjin said.
Because in their inherent impression, those who can fly are either gods or monsters.
All in all, these are things that are absolutely beyond human power to contend with.
Riots and panic continued to spread among the Qing army, and the morale of the Qing army became increasingly low.
Seeing this, Xu Guangjin felt helpless and turned to ask Wu Chonghui again.
"Mr. Wu, is there any way to shoot down that hot air balloon?"
"If we continue to keep the hot air balloon hanging in the air, the Qing Dynasty will lose half of this battle before we even have to fight."
Upon hearing this, Wu Chonghui smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"To answer your Excellency's question, the hot air balloon is suspended in the air and cannot be reached by guns or cannons. There is nothing I can do about it."
In fact, the hot air balloons of the Restoration Army are not flying very high, only about a hundred meters.
But since it was now floating above the Restoration Army instead of over the Qing Army, all of the Qing Army's guns and cannons could not reach it.
Upon hearing this, Xu Guangjin couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
"What should I do? What should I do?"
Wu Chonghui, who was standing by, saw this and suddenly had an idea and spoke.
"Your Excellency, as far as I know, the reason why this hot air balloon can float in the sky is that the heat generated by the burning fuel rises and holds the hot air balloon up."
"Once its fuel runs out, it will land on its own."
"We might as well retreat back to the camp and hold our ground until the enemy's hot air balloon runs out of fuel and lands. Then we can go out and defeat the enemy."
Xu Guangjin's expression also changed when he heard this.
The ball is lifted up by the rising heat from the burning fuel. Isn't this a Kongming lantern?
It turns out that this strange Western object is actually a large Kongming lantern!
He thought this thing was something very rare, but it turned out to be just like this.
After thinking for a moment, Xu Guangjin nodded and said.
"Okay, order the entire army to withdraw and return to the camp!"
Under the current circumstances, it is certainly not advisable to engage in a field battle with the Restoration Army.
For Xu Guangjin, withdrawing to the main camp and holding it first was indeed the best option.
……
"Drive out the Tartars, restore China, rebuild the country, and equalize land rights!"
"Drive out the Tartars, restore China, rebuild the country, and equalize land rights!"
"..."
The shouts resounded throughout the battlefield, and the soldiers of the Restoration Army continued to advance with high morale.
Just as Li Yi was about to order his artillery to fire a test shot, he saw the Qing army on the opposite side suddenly begin to retreat.
A group of people swarmed towards the Qing army camp in the rear!
"The two armies haven't even formally engaged in battle yet, and the Qing demons have already retreated on their own. They must have been intimidated by the might of the Grand Commander."
"I congratulate the Grand Commander for his awesome power over the Qing demons and his invincibility!"
Seeing this, Wang An, who was standing by, took the opportunity to flatter him.
Upon seeing this, all the generals began to speak up.
"I congratulate the Grand Commander for his awesome power over the Qing demons and his invincibility!"
Upon hearing this, Li Yi waved his hand and said.
"Stop the fucking flattery."
"Order the entire army to continue advancing. We will not turn back until the Qing monster is defeated!"
Under Li Yi's command, the Restoration Army continued to move forward steadily.
Soon, the Restoration Army chased after the retreating Qing army and advanced to the outside of the Qing army's camp.
At this time, a small part of the Qing army's rearguard troops did not have time to withdraw to the camp and were stranded outside the camp.
The crowd surged and crowded, and the gate of the Qing army camp was blocked. Countless people pushed each other and fought for the road.
Amid the chaos, stampedes occurred frequently.
The artillery group of the Restoration Army was pushed out, and the muzzles were aimed at the rear guard troops of the Qing army gathered outside the Qing army camp in front, and test firing began.
Boom! Boom!
A few sporadic gunshots were heard, and soon there was the low humming sound produced by shells breaking through the air.
The shells flew over and penetrated into the crowd of Qing troops. The bullets pierced through the bodies of more than a dozen people in the dense crowd, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.
The scene is terrible!
Several shells were fired in succession, causing a bloody storm among the crowd.
The chaos among the Qing army's rearguard troops became increasingly serious.
There was crowding, trampling, screaming and wailing, and countless people were struggling to survive.
Every time the Restoration Army's artillery fired, the Qing army couldn't help but tremble with fear.
After completing the test firing, the artillery group of the Restoration Army officially began to deliver firepower.
boom! Boom boom boom!
The roar of artillery was deafening.
Shells were fired one after another, and after a few breaths, the Qing army's rearguard troops crowded at the camp gate suffered heavy casualties and then fled in panic.
They lowered their heads and fled in all directions!
Seeing this scene, the Restoration Army changed the target of its artillery fire from aiming at the gathered crowd to aiming at the Qing army's camp.
The Qing army's camp was surrounded by a wall made of logs. If the Restoration Army wanted to attack the Qing army's camp, this wall would be the first obstacle that needed to be overcome.
Boom! Boom!
The shells flew across and hit the Qing army’s wall.
The kinetic energy it carried directly smashed a big hole in the wall of the village. As wood chips flew out, a Qing soldier behind the wall was cut in half by the shell.
Blood mixed with internal organs sprayed all over the people around.
Such a shocking scene frightened countless people.
Artillery shells were fired one after another, making a loud bang. Big holes appeared on the walls of the Qing army's camp, and some even collapsed.
Behind the village wall, Qing soldiers fled in panic.
boom! Boom boom!
Seeing this, the artillery in the Qing army camp also began to fire back. Amid the roar, shells flew over the wall and shot towards the Guangfu Army artillery array in the distance.
But unfortunately, the Qing army's artillery range was far inferior to that of the Restoration Army's artillery.
The fired shells lost their kinetic energy halfway through their flight and fell to the ground, spinning around.
There is almost no threat to the Restoration Army!
The reason for this is that the gap between the two sides is multifaceted.
One reason is that most of the Qing army's artillery pieces were old and quite old. In order to prevent them from exploding, the Qing army's gunners did not dare to fully load them with gunpowder.
Naturally, the range will not meet expectations!
However, the artillery pieces of the Restoration Army were all new; even the oldest ones were only a few months old.
In addition, its casting process is excellent. Not to mention a full load of gunpowder, even if the amount of gunpowder is increased after it is fully loaded, the barrel will not explode as long as it is not fired continuously.
The second reason is that there is a gap in the quality of gunpowder between the two sides.
The gunpowder formula currently used in the Restoration Army's artillery is the optimal ratio of artillery propellant currently used in Europe.
Moreover, the production process and acceptance work are also extremely strict.
The gunpowder produced is not inferior to the shoddy homemade gunpowder of the Qing Dynasty, but even compared with the black gunpowder currently used by European powers, it is in no way inferior.
The third reason is the difference in artillery shells!
Most of the shells used in artillery these days are solid bullets.
If solid bullets are to exert their maximum lethality, the tolerance must be reduced as much as possible to fit the barrel.
To prevent gunpowder gas from leaking and causing loss of kinetic energy of the shell.
Because of this, the Restoration Army was very strict about the production of artillery shells. The shape and diameter of each artillery shell had to undergo rigorous inspection and measurement before being allowed to leave the factory and be sent to the front line for use.
And what about the Qing army?
But no one cares about this.
A cannonball is roughly round and can be fired out after being stuffed into the barrel.
As for what the shells are made of, what their diameter is, whether their shape is round, and what the tolerance of the barrel is?
No one cares about any of this!
The combination of these various reasons resulted in a huge difference in the range of the Qing army's artillery and the Restoration Army's artillery.
The Qing army's artillery posed almost no threat to the Restoration Army!
……
"Governor, our artillery can't reach the bandits!"
The artillery commander of the Qing army came up to Xu Guangjin with a round cannonball in his hand and said with a sad face.
Upon hearing this, Xu Guangjin's face darkened obviously, but he still asked.
"Is this the artillery shell fired by the bandits?"
The artillery captain nodded and said.
"To answer your question, sir, this is the cannonball fired by the bandits."
"I checked and found that the shells fired by the bandits were almost all of the same size and smooth and round in shape. They must have been specially polished. They are no worse than the shells of the foreigners, and are far from comparable to the shells of the Qing Dynasty."
Upon hearing this, Xu Guangjin couldn't help but tremble a little, but it was not because of fear, but because of anger.
These foreigners dared to interfere in the internal affairs of the Qing Dynasty. They deserve to be killed!
It would have been fine if they had just been causing trouble along the coast of Guangdong, but now they have extended their hands to inland Guangxi and even supported the rebels to fight against the Qing court.
He is truly unworthy of a man!
Well, in Xu Guangjin’s view, the Restoration Army developed with the funding of foreigners.
Otherwise, there is no way to explain the foreign cannons currently used by the Restoration Army and the origin of the hot air balloon.
Now Xu Guangjin is really about to hate the foreigners to death.
"Is there any way?"
Xu Guangjin asked in a cold voice, the gloomy expression on his face showed that he was in a really bad mood.
Upon hearing this, the artillery commander just shook his head helplessly.
Xu Guangjin took a deep breath, feeling helpless.
At this moment, someone came jogging again to report to Xu Guangjin.
"Report! Repay!"
"Your Excellency the Governor, the enemy soldiers are coming to attack us..."
……
On the battlefield, while the artillery was launching bombardment, the infantry of the Restoration Army was slowly advancing forward in a standard combat formation of three horizontal rows.
"Drive out the Tartars and restore China!"
"Kill the demons and divide the land!"
"Long live the Restoration Army, long live the Grand Commander!"
"..."
Amid the shouts, the Restoration Army's formation continued to advance forward.
Seeing this, the Qing army's artillery began to fight back.
boom! Boom boom!
The shells leaped over the battered village wall and fired towards the Restoration Army that was advancing outside the Qing army camp.
The shell bounced off the ground, rolled forward, and hit the formation of the Restoration Army.
However, the Restoration Army's formation consisted of only three thin horizontal rows, and there was a certain distance between people.
Therefore, the threat of Qing army's artillery bombardment was limited.
Even if the shells fired by the Qing army's artillery could hit the target by chance, they would only cause one or two casualties to the Restoration Army at most, or even less.
And this is almost a drop in the bucket for a large-scale war involving tens of thousands of troops on both sides.
At the same time, the artillery of the Restoration Army did not rest, and continued to fire to suppress the Qing army's artillery fire and cover their own infantry's offensive.
……
Xu Guangjin noticed the scene on the battlefield and immediately ordered his troops to prepare to fight.
However, as soon as the two sides came into contact, the Qing army, whose morale was already low, began to retreat.
We were suppressed by the Restoration Army throughout the whole process!
Seeing this, he could only order further reinforcements.
But the Qing army's reinforcements had just begun to gather, and all of this was seen by the hot air balloon floating in the sky.
The artillery units of the Restoration Army began to quickly adjust their firing parameters.
Then, just as the Qing army reinforcements had finished gathering, the Restoration Army's artillery fire hit them head on.
The Qing army reinforcements that had just finished assembling were directly dispersed by artillery fire.
Retreat hastily.
The vanguard of the Restoration Army successfully broke into the Qing army camp and continued to advance.
In just half a day, the Qing army lost twelve camps and was in continuous retreat.
When the vanguard of the Restoration Army advanced the deepest, Xu Guangjin's central army tent was almost right in front of them.
The entire battle situation outside Wuzhou City tilted one-sidedly towards the Restoration Army.
Seeing this, Xu Guangjin had no choice but to put on his armor himself, and as the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, he personally led his own governor's flag to the front line of the battlefield to supervise the battle.
They want to use this to resist the offensive of the Restoration Army!
Under Xu Guangjin's personal supervision, the morale of the Qing army did improve.
And as the Qing army continued to send reinforcements to the front line and the vanguard troops of the Restoration Army penetrated deep into the Qing army camp, their artillery was limited in range and could no longer provide fire support, and the battle situation began to become stalemate.
Although the various units of the Restoration Army had the upper hand, they were unable to capture the Qing army's center and win the war.
The two sides fought back and forth in the Qing army camp, constantly killing each other, and the number of casualties on the front lines of the Restoration Army began to gradually increase.
The fighting becomes more and more fierce!
(End of this chapter)