Yan Dafu was an old soldier in the Qing army. He had been a soldier in the army during the Daoguang period, and he was only a junior soldier until now.

He is able to survive until now, which means he has some ability to survive.

In the past twenty years, he had been hanging around in the Green Camp, and the officers above him changed one after another, some died in battle and some were promoted.

He was the only one who was untouchable, and his military salary was only enough to support himself. Yan Dafu was very happy and did not ask for a wife.

After getting the money, he went to eat and drink. Originally, he had a sweetheart in Yangzhou city who kept the door open. Now that Yangzhou has been occupied by Changmao for so long, he doesn't know if that sweetheart is still there?

"After a while, run behind me." Yan Dafu said to a young boy named Gu Bin beside him.

This is a recruit who has just been pulled into the Green Camp. Both his parents are dead and he has only one younger sister.

"Uncle Yan, I will listen to you."

Gu Bin has a sweet mouth, and Yan Dafu wants to accept him as his godson. If he is unlucky and dies on the battlefield one day, he will ask Gu Bin to help him die.

The benefit Yan Dafu gave Gu Bin was to take care of him in the army so that he could survive.

Today, the officers above told them that the imperial envoy had obtained a powerful weapon to capture Yangzhou, which had been under attack for many days, and promised not to seal the sword for three days after entering the city.

This is to give everyone an opportunity to plunder.

Yan Dafu has often been involved in such things, but he also knows that in a city that has experienced wars one after another, there is actually no oil and water, and there is not much money to be grabbed. Most people just kill a few people to vent their anger.

Everything went very smoothly, and the huge cannon made of bronze blasted through the city wall.

In Yan Dafu's opinion, usually, at this point, the outcome of the battle is already sealed.

At this moment, Cheng Yaojin appeared on the way. During the battle, he was most afraid of something like this happening.

However, the Qing army's key surveillance target was placed in the south, and they did not expect that the band of pirates from the east would suddenly come to kill them.

This is troublesome. The attacking army can only retreat and form a formation.

By the time the Qing army withdrew from the city, the army had already killed them. The skill on their feet was truly remarkable.

Yan Dafu knows that facing such an army, escaping is not necessarily the best choice, because the opponent is very fast and you may not be able to outrun others.

Unless the escape turns into a big rout and your side is in chaos, in this case, you don't need to outrun the enemy, you just need to outrun your companions.

As the support force approached, Yan Dafu gradually saw clearly that the opponent's attire was somewhat similar to the foreign military uniforms. The top was shorter, the trousers were not so fat, the legs were wearing white leggings, and the feet were black cloth shoes.

The long gun in his hand has a bayonet, which is of the style of a foreign gun.

The Qing army is now equipped with a lot of foreign guns, but they don't seem to be as sophisticated as their opponents.

Naturally, the Qing army would not just watch these people approaching. The artillery originally used to attack the city aimed at these infantry and opened fire.

But it didn't disrupt the opponent's array at all.

Yan Dafu seemed to have seen such a situation ten years ago when he resisted the British army at Wusong Fort.

In that war, almost all the Qing troops died, and the fight was very brutal, but Yan Dafu survived. From then on, he was very precious about his life in wars.

But beyond Yan Dafu's expectation, these people started shooting two hundred meters away.

The first to be unlucky were the artillerymen. This group of cowards escaped just after a few people died.

Yan Dafu could clearly see these reinforcements through the gap between the turbans of the brothers in front of them. They were advancing while shooting, and they still maintained a horizontal formation.

This is the way foreigners fight.

The opponent can shoot from two hundred meters away, but you can only shoot within a hundred steps.

The outcome has been decided.

"Press up..." The military orders were passed down from the generals one by one. Yan Dafu thought that if it was bad, it would be better to stand still. If he moved, many people's little ideas would be realized.

For example, if no one wants to stand at the front, some people will take the initiative to slow down.

If everyone has this intention, then the entire array will slow down.

If some of them do this, the array will be out of order, because some people want to retreat, while others want to move forward at a normal speed.

Sure enough, as the Qing army's array advanced, their horizontal array was constantly in chaos.

When the Qing army entered the opponent's 200-meter shooting range, people kept falling.

The casualties increased the panic among some people, and the array became more chaotic.

"Get ready. When you run later, follow me and don't trip over anyone." Yan Dafu felt that the atmosphere in the array was not right. With his many years of combat experience, a defeat was coming soon.

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He whispered to Gu Bin what he should pay attention to when escaping.

On the hills behind, Qishan was rewarded, and a section of the Red Flag Army was outflanking them.

Qishan quickly sent troops to stop the attack, and at the same time asked people to pack up their things. He quietly retreated with a group of subordinate officials.

Qishan is a person who cherishes his life very much.

"Boom, boom, boom..." On the side of the Qing army, an artillery unit appeared at some point.

The artillery of the escort army uses two-wheeled artillery carts, which are dragged by a pack horse and can be deployed very quickly.

There is also a smaller version of the army's rocket launcher, which can be pushed forward using human power.

The artillery fire attacked from the side, and the hit rate was very high. The messy Qing army array was immediately shrouded in the smoke and dust of the explosion. The infantry of the escort did not need to aim, and shot directly into the smoke.

Yan Dafu couldn't see clearly, but he could hear people falling down in the front row and people in the back being squeezed forward.

Yan Dafu, on the other hand, pulled Gu Bin and squeezed back, or stayed still and allowed his comrades around him to run in front of him. It was already difficult for the officers to effectively control their troops.

"Withdrawn..."

"The handsome man ran away..."

Suddenly some shouts came from the array. Then the entire array turned around and ran backwards.

At this time, the casualties of the Qing army were actually less than 10%.

It was just the gap in weapons and momentum that made the Qing army lose hope of victory.

On the other side, the Qing army that blocked the escort's roundabout force was also defeated.

Yan Dafu and Gu Bin tried their best to stay away from the retreating crowd. When escaping, the most dangerous thing is not the enemy, but your companions. Some people may even attack your own people while escaping.

At this moment, Yan Dafu heard dense footsteps coming from his right front.

Through the smoke, he saw an army standing in front of him. He felt bad because he couldn't escape this time.

The two happened to encounter a small ditch.

"Hide with me." He shouted to Gu Bin.

The two of them jumped into the ditch while others were not paying attention, and found a place with lush grass to hide themselves.

On the top of the city, the Taiping troops were stunned. They were condescending and saw the entire battle.

In order to buy time, the escort army directly braved the Qing army's artillery attack and pressed forward without waiting for their own artillery.

Then he shot from a long distance to lower the morale of the Qing army.

It would be like this for everyone. Others can hit me, but I can't hit others.

"Shuai Zeng, the guns of this guard can hit really far. If we had such guns, the Qing demons wouldn't be able to get close to the city wall." One of his subordinates seemed a little unconvinced. The Qing army who had been fighting with him for so many days was just like this.

Defeated, it seemed that the Taiping Army was too incompetent.

Zeng Lichang saw clearly that the Guards were powerful not only with their weapons, but also with their discipline and morale.

The spirit of soldiers is the most difficult to train.

And he knew that most of the army under the city were new recruits, and they had only undergone a few months of training. This showed that the Guards had an efficient training method.

Their code of conduct looks very similar to that of foreigners, but it is definitely not as simple as copying it.

As a veteran in the army, Zeng Lichang developed a strong curiosity about the Guards.

Ordinary Taiping soldiers did not think so much. Most of their hearts were filled with the joy of surviving the disaster and their gratitude to the reinforcements.

The battle was far from over, and the escort troops chased the Qing army all the way.

As we reached Yizheng in the west, we could no longer see the Qing army in full form.

The large troops in the Jiangbei Camp were either wiped out or escaped the sight of the escort.

A large number of prisoners were escorted to Yangzhou City.

The Taiping female battalion in the city pushed a cart and delivered freshly cooked meals to the escort.

Yuan Wei saw Zeng Lichang on the top of the city.

"Commander Zeng, my Jiangbei column was ordered to take over Yangzhou City. Thank you for your hard work." Yuan Wei said to Zeng Lichang.

At this time, the escort had not entered the city yet, just out of respect for the Taiping Army.

"Commander Yuan, give me one night and I'll ask my men to clean up. The city is in dilapidated condition right now. It's all due to Zeng's incompetence and failure to manage Yangzhou City well."

At this time, the city of Yangzhou has long lost its former prosperity, and the number of soldiers and civilians in the city is less than half of its original number.

Coupled with the Taiping Army's all-people-military policy, the city's streets were depressed, and the successive wars left ruins everywhere in the city.

The escort literally waited outside the city all night.

Using the evening time, Zeng Lichang gathered his men and announced that they would join the Chinese ethnic group.

Most of the officers had no objection when they heard that this could be exchanged for the Chinese to rescue Lin Fengxiang.

But Zeng Lichang did not notice that a murderous look flashed in the eyes of one of the officers.
Chapter completed!