Hu Liefeng led more than 7,000 cavalry to bypass the blockade of the Protector Army at night, and it took only three days to cross the Great Wall and approach the summer resort in Chengde.At this time, the Great Wall had become a complete ornament, losing its proper role, allowing soldiers and horses from all walks of life to enter and exit freely.Rong Lu would never have thought that the Boxers would dare to risk going straight to the rear of the imperial court.After Hu Liefeng arrived in Chengde City, he did not launch a substantial attack.When encountering a strong enemy, he immediately retreated, but he just burned fire everywhere and made a big noise, so that the Qing court mistakenly thought that the Boxer army was coming.Cixi's side was originally two elite soldiers, Monk Greenqin and Ronglu, and the other Eight Banners Army and Green Camp Army were all wine bags and rice bags, and Cixi didn't want to bring them to Chengde at all.Monk Greenqin died in the battle at Bali Bridge, and the Qing court was shocked, and they all regretted the loss of the "pillar stone of the country".The left and right lieutenants of Seng Lingqin found his body on the battlefield and transported him to Chengde for burial.The Qing government held a funeral for the monk Greenqin with the specifications of the prince, and Emperor Tongzhi and Cixi came to pay their respects.Give the nickname "loyalty", worthy of enjoying the temple.In Chengde built "Zhaozhong Temple", and prepared to return to the capital after the portrait of the Purple Light Pavilion.Rong Lu now led all the soldiers and horses of the Protector Army to the south to quell the rebellion, and at this time, the soldiers and horses stationed in Chengde only had more than 3,000 firearms battalions in the capital and more than 2,000 Janissaries.These more than 5,000 people are all armed with advanced breech-loading foreign guns, and all of them are the elites of the Eight Banners Army and the Green Battalion Army.But even the elite is not even comparable to the Protector Army.After Hu Liefeng launched an attack, he was still beaten in a hurry with an advanced foreign gun.After persisting for a week, he finally couldn't bear the harassment and attack.Hurriedly informed Cixi that it was the army of anti-thieves who came to attack Chengde, and the soldiers and horses defending the city could no longer hold on.When Cixi learned that the Boxers were coming to attack Chengde, she was shocked and hurriedly ordered to send someone to pass the news to Rong Lu, and urgently transferred Rong Lu's army back to Chengde to escort her.When Rong Lu received the holy decree, he didn't dare to slack off in the slightest, and hurriedly took 50,000 soldiers and horses to rescue him in the direction of Chengde.He now has the inner city outside the Forbidden City in his hands, and it will be a matter of time before he recovers the capital, and he is not in a hurry to do so.At this time, there were only 50,000 protectors left in the capital and 120,000 Boxers.Of the 120,000 soldiers and horses of the Boxers, 20,000 of the elite of the Tiger Army, the remaining 100,000 or so were rabble armed with cold weapons.After Rong Lu left, the Boxer army counterattacked the Protector Army in the inner city several times, but they were all repelled by the Protector Army holding on to the city walls.The gap in weapons between the two sides is too big, and now the Boxers are all joining in the fun, except for the 20,000 descendants of the Tiger Army, and some gangs have taken the opportunity to sneak out of the capital.After the Tiger Army and the Seven Demon Army were defeated one after another, they had already seen the trend of being wiped out by the imperial army.Anyway, I've already made enough money, and it's not worth risking my life anymore.In the area of the capital, all the intelligence continued to gather in Nanjing, and Qiao Zhiqing finally issued the order for the Northern Expedition at this time.After more than two or two months of army preparation and more than three months of military training, the various military regions of the Huaxing Army have successively tripled their strength, and the total strength has reached more than one million.At the same time, the East China Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet also sent three additional armies to Dagukou, which were subordinate to Hu Wenhai's Nanjing Military Region, with a total of 100,000 soldiers.These three armies will also set out from Tianjin and go west all the way to attack Beijing directly.At the same time, the Taiyuan Military Region, which was deployed in Zhangjiakou, also dispatched 100,000 soldiers and horses to cross the Great Wall and send troops to Chengde to directly attack the seat of the Manchu royal family.Prince Gong and Rong Lu originally envisioned the plan of "snipe and clam competing for fisherman's profit", but they didn't expect this fisherman to let Qiao Zhiqing be in the end.They and the Boxers are now fighting inseparably, and no one expected that the Huaxing Army would choose to attack at this time.The army at Dagukou increased to 110,000 for a while, and as soon as the army came ashore to rest for a day, it launched an attack on the city of Tianjin, which was defended by Dexing'a.The East China Sea Fleet sailed directly into the port of Tianjin, and set up artillery to bombard the Tianjin city wall.Dexing'a originally wanted to use the high wall to block the Huaxing army, but he didn't expect that after just this burst of shelling, the city wall was blown into pieces like tofu.Dexinga originally had seven wooden warships of more than 100 tons left, all of which sailed out of the harbor to attack the East China Sea Fleet.As a result, after meeting with the ironclad ship of the East China Sea Fleet, it was like a child meeting a giant, and he was directly hit and sunk by the ironclad ship of the Huaxing Army.Before the cannon could be fired, all the soldiers on board abandoned the ship and escaped.Dexinga finally knew what strength was, but he didn't take the lead in evacuating.Instead, he took his 100,000 troops out of the city, preparing to fight to the death with the Huaxing army.He was the most capable Manchu general in the Protector Army, but he was too upright for Rong Lu to value him.Dexinga has a grudge in his heart, but he is still a loyal minister.Even in the face of a powerful opponent, he must fulfill his duty as a loyal minister.Nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses unfolded in the fields outside Tianjin.The Protectors under Dexing'a were all equipped with these breech-loading guns, all of which were the first batch of weapons eliminated by the Protectorate.He practiced soldiers and horses almost every day, and also invited French instructors from the Tianjin colony to guide him.When this army launched an assault on the Huaxing army, it also retained the characteristics of the French style.There is also a gong and drum team beating gongs and drums on the side, and the soldiers and brave soldiers are stepping on the drums and hitting neatly.Dexing'a hadn't fought against the Huaxing Army for a long time, and he didn't know the true strength of the Huaxing Army.In his heart, he hoped that Hua Xingjun would use the same weapons as his own, so that he still had a chance to win.At this time, the Huaxing Army had already assembled all breech expeditionary rifles, and under the rush of nearly a year at the Taiyuan Arsenal and the Nanjing Arsenal, it mass-produced millions of expeditionary rifles at full horsepower, all of which were assembled for newly recruited soldiers.After Dexinga commanded the Protector Army to launch an attack, the Huaxing Army established a defensive position on the spot.In front of him, he built a 30-centimeter mound of earth with a sapper shovel, and then lay down behind.The 100,000 national protectors came overwhelmingly, and within a radius of several miles, they were densely packed with human figures.The Huaxing army also spread out in a fan shape, and after the commander gave an order, all the guns were opened, and all the crosshairs were aimed at the body of the national protector.With such a dense charge, in fact, as long as the muzzle of the gun is raised, even if you close your eyes and put a shot overdue, someone will be shot and fall to the ground.It was a battle between two eras, and the intensive fire of the Protector Army could not hit the Huaxing army lying on the ground at all.The breech foreign gun is about to withdraw from the stage of history, in addition to dealing with the dense impact formation of cold weapons, it also has a little effect.Facing an opponent with a breech gun is simply a waste of death."
Bang, bang, bang" When the two sides were a thousand meters apart, gunfire rang out at the same time, dense as raindrops, and thunder in the sky.Like puppets, the Protectors were hit by oncoming bullets in rows.After falling, the soldiers behind continued to replenish and continue to attack.The bullets they fired didn't know where they had been, either flying over the heads of Hua Xingjun, or splashing up bursts of dust on the way.The Huaxing Army's expeditionary rifle magazine was loaded with five bullets, and it only took fifteen seconds to complete the action of pulling the bolt, shooting, pulling the bolt, and shooting again.After the firing was completed, the soldiers in the back row waiting for the shot pulled the trigger again, and there was no buffer in the middle at all.Platoon after row of Protectors fell, and in just three or four minutes of fighting, more than 10,000 people were killed and wounded.At this time, they rushed forward more than fifty meters.Dexing'a was stunned, and he was completely unbelievable about the combat effectiveness of the Huaxing Army.I don't understand where so many bullets are flying from, why don't you slow down and let people breathe.Since the gunshots rang out, the battlefield has been completely enveloped, and there is always a crackling sound in the ears.The generals returned to the rear one after another, begging Dexinga to retreat first and stop being fearless to die.Dexinga was determined to die, refused to make the slightest concession, and strictly ordered the generals to continue to return to the battlefield and continue to attack.He knew that even if he evacuated at this time, he would be caught up by the Huaxing army, scattered and surrounded, and each one was broken.It's better to fight to the death, maybe there will be a chance to have a glimmer of opportunity.In this way, under the orders of the generals, the Protector Army still braved the rain of bullets.And they kept pulling the trigger in their hands and firing the breech guns in their hands, but only firing.Each soldier usually fired only once, and when he retreated to the third platoon to reload, the bullets flew from behind him and burrowed into the flesh.Immediately, the skin and flesh opened, and blood splattered three feet.When they used their bodies as meat shields and rushed into the 200 meters, nearly 30,000 people were already lying on the ground.The blood had stained the ground beneath his feet red, and the Grim Reaper roared in the wind, smirking and waving the scythe in his hand."
Mortar battalion, prepare, launch" When the two sides were eight hundred meters apart, the mortar battalion of the Huaxing Army was also ready to fire from the position.After continuous improvement, under the existing conditions.The small-caliber mortars cast by the Nanjing Arsenal have a range of 1,000 meters.But in order not to waste ammunition, the commander waited for the Protectors to rush to 800 meters, and then gave the mortar battalion the order to fire."
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" The sharp roar of the shells rubbing against the barrels of the cannons soared into the sky, whistling in the air in a parabola, and one by one fell into the gun array of the Protectors.Each division of the Huaxing Army was equipped with a mortar battalion, and the three-way army attacked more than 2,000 artillery guns and opened fire at the same time.More than 2,000 mortar shells fell from the position of the Protector Army at one time, and the smoke of gunpowder rose and the sound of artillery gathered together, completely covering the battlefield.The shrapnel scattered in the gun array of the Protector Army, destroying everything within a radius of tens of meters.The wails were everywhere, and the Protectors, who had already been beaten and had no will to resist, could no longer bear the pressure.Completely ignoring the general's reprimand, they all turned around and fled.At this moment, Hua Xingjun is already like a devil in their eyes, and they have never seen or heard of Hua Xingjun's weapons.No one wants to die in vain, especially since they are all Han Chinese, and they can't fight for ten taels of military pay per month, and they work hard for the Manchurians
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