Chapter 63: The Battle of Jingdezhen (5)

  The next day, before dawn broke, Yang Fuqing was awakened by the rumbling sound of cannons outside the city.

  Today's cannon fire is much more violent than before, Yang Fuqing felt something was wrong. He got dressed and out of bed, immediately gathered the generals to go up to the city wall to observe the battle.

  Since they decided to launch a fierce attack, Zhang Yunlan, Xiao Qijiang and Li Mingfeng all took out their entire family's savings, without regard for the amount of ammunition, and launched a crazy bombardment. Yang Fuqing didn't even make it to the city gate before being scared back by the intense artillery fire.

  "It seems that the Qing army is ready to fight to the death, everyone should do their job and guard the city gate tightly. Although our military strength is slightly less than that of the Qing army, after all, we have the geographical advantage, and they want to capture Jingdezhen, which is also a delusional idea." Yang Fuqing said with encouragement when he saw that the generals were afraid of the Qing army's artillery.

  The Taiping Army quickly organized its troops and rushed to each city gate to defend it tightly.

  This bombardment lasted until noon, when more than half of the shells had been used up. Zhang Yunlan, Xiao Qijiang and Wang Kaihua then began to dispatch soldiers to attack the city. Under the cover of artillery fire, the dense Xiang Army held cloud ladders and rushed straight at the city wall. The Longhairs were suppressed by the artillery fire and did not dare to show their heads, hiding under the shelters on the city head, thus greatly reducing the casualties of the Xiang Army.

  Li Mingfeng saw that the other three gates had started attacking, and only then did he order the attack. Li Mingfeng thought to himself, "I'm not a Xiang Army general, there's no need for me to advance or retreat with you all, since the other three gates are attacking so fiercely, I'll just do my best here."

  Li Mingfeng held the idea of preserving his strength, so the Northern Gate offensive was the weakest. Under this situation, Yang Fuqing transferred part of the troops from the Northern Gate to the other three gates.

  The siege was the most devastating, killing for two hours. Zhang Yunlan and Xiao Qijiang saw that the Xiang Army had suffered too much loss, and they really couldn't bear it, so they had to order a temporary ceasefire and return to camp to rest.

  On this side, Li Mingfeng also let out a sigh of relief. In the past two hours, more than a thousand people on his side had been killed or injured in this lazy battle, not to mention the other three gates. If Zhang and Xiao were stubborn, Li Mingfeng was really afraid that before the city was breached, his own soldiers would be dead first.

  Withdraw troops and return to camp, the main generals of the four camps gather again.

  "There are too many variables within the city, it seems we've considered things a bit too simply." Xiao Qijiang spoke up first.

  "It's no use attacking head-on, I think we should first eliminate Yang Yiqing and then concentrate our forces to attack Jingdezhen," said Wang Kaihua.

  The three generals of the Xiang Army cast their eyes on Li Mingfeng, the meaning was very clear, all hoping that he would lead his army to support Wei Zhijun and concentrate their superior forces to fight Yang Yiqing.

  Li Mingfeng cursed in his heart, Jingdezhen was hard to defeat, but Yang Yiqing was not a vegetarian either. If he said he would eat it, then he wouldn't have to worry about this headache anymore. These three people obviously wanted the foreign gun team to consume their strength, they were taking advantage of the situation.

  In the eyes of traditional Chinese people, Li Mingfeng is a fake foreign devil. Although he has helped the Xiang Army, these people are very polite to him, but in their bones, they still think that if you're not one of us, your heart must be different. Li Mingfeng is a Han person, but he surrendered to the foreigners and his soldiers are foreign troops. Letting foreign troops dominate is something no Chinese person wants to see.

  Seeing this situation, Li Mingfeng knew that the matter could not be pushed away. Since so, it's better to say a few words of courtesy: "General Wei is my subordinate general, I will go to support him, which is most appropriate. Tomorrow, Mingfeng will break camp and set out, what do you gentlemen think?"

  The three generals of the Xiang Army said in unison: "This is for the best."

  Li Mingfeng bid farewell and left with his personal guards, returning to their own camp.

  As soon as he entered the camp, Palrand ran over: "The captain told you some good news, your old friend is here"

  Old friend? How many people does Li Mingfeng know in this era?

  Li Mingfeng was taken by Palendra into the middle of the military camp, this man wore a top hat, dressed in a western suit, holding a civilized cane, who else could it be if not Gong Half-people?

  "Brother Gong, how did you come?" Li Mingfeng still had deep feelings for him. The two people lived together for several months, and Gong Cheng and he had a lot in common.

  "Hehe, all the best, all the best." Gong Cheng said.

  The two people were too familiar with each other and didn't stand on ceremony, sitting down and chatting about what had happened since they parted ways.

  More than thirty Prussian ships returned to Shanghai, and all the goods collected from Tongcheng and Shucheng by Li Mingfang were transported back to Europe. The Prussians unloaded all their artillery in the Shanghai Foreign Rifle Corps barracks, leaving behind a few officers waiting for the remaining payment from Old Li.

  After Gong Cheng had more contact with the Prussians, he found that their military system and training methods were very advanced. He specially asked for their help in training the artillery team. The Prussians didn't mind, sending a few low-ranking officers, and agreed to this matter.

  Just as Gong Cheng and Prussian were about to formulate specific tactics for the entire army, Weitaima found him.

  In November, Gui Liang, Hua Shan'na and He Guiqing signed the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with Britain and France, settling all trade issues.

  Afterwards, to demonstrate its power and exercise its rights under the treaty, Admiral Seymour led a fleet of dozens of British warships up the Yangtze River against the current, preparing to make it clear to officials in the provinces along the river that from now on this Yangtze River had been completely opened to the British Empire.

  As a result, when the warship arrived at Tianjing, the Taiping Army's artillery opened fire on the British ship.

  The news that the foreign ships were assisting the Qing to suppress the Taiping had already reached Tianjing, and the local garrison could not distinguish between Prussian and British ships, so they opened fire as soon as they saw a Western fleet.

  This enraged Watson and ordered the fleet to counterattack fiercely. In this battle, the Tianjing battery was severely damaged, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom suffered countless casualties.

  The most ridiculous thing is that after Hong Xiuquan received the news, he cut off all the long-haired men on the artillery platform. He thought the British were coming to worship him as the Son of God, and the Taiping Army's first shot was a provocation, so the foreigners' counterattack was justified. Afterwards, Hong Xiuquan issued the "Imperial Edict to the Western Brothers", which was sent to the British ships by Lin Shaochang and Zhu Bangxiong.

  "This edict is translated by Gong Zheng. Inside, it says nothing but this: You Westerners come to worship the Son of God, we welcome you very much. However, you should also follow the rules and cannot come recklessly. You Westerners are all my subjects, my brother Jesus preached in your Western world, you are also considered as my followers, I will protect you and so on."

  After hearing these words, Weitamai was not only not angry, but burst out laughing.

  Leaving Tianjing, the British prepared to sail their warships to Wuchang. After arriving at Hukou, they heard that Li Mingfang was in Jingdezhen, so Gong Zhen got off the ship and came here to see him. Gong Zhen made an appointment with Weiduoma, four days later, the British fleet returned, and Gong Zhen waited for them again at Hukou.

  "Haha, thanks for taking the trouble to come all the way to see me, Brother Gong. Li Mingfeng bowed his head in gratitude."

  Gong Cheng hastily waved his hand and said: "I don't dare, I don't dare! You are now an official appointed by the imperial court, while I am just a commoner. How could I possibly let you bow to me?"

  "An official appointed by the imperial court?" Li Mingfeng thought to himself, I'm just a leader of a foreign gun squad and don't even hold an official position in the imperial court, how can I be considered an official appointed by the imperial court.