Chapter 41: Defend Taiwan (1)

Li Hongzhang didn't have much confidence in whether Taiwan could defend it. Although he had 20,000 guns in his hand, Li Hongzhang himself knew how much combat effectiveness these most of the temporarily pieced together troops could have. The three thousand strong men sent by his teacher Zeng Guofan were all authentic Hunan farmers, and the soldiers recruited by the people in Taiwan were even more reliable. The 5,000 troops he brought from Fujian were considered professional soldiers, but the quality gap was too big compared to the coalition soldiers. The only thing that could reassure Li Hongzhang was the two regiments of soldiers supported by Liu Mingchuan, but the number was a little smaller, an infantry regiment and a mortar regiment. Although there were not many people, Liu Mingchuan had already made the greatest efforts. Liu Mingchuan also wrote to tell Li Hongzhang that Yang Yi attached importance to him. Li Hongzhang was very moved by the sincerity shown by Yang Yi and Liu Mingchuan.

In fact, the problem Li Hongzhang was most worried about was artillery. The most lacking thing about the Taiwan defenders was cannons. The original cannons in Taiwan were all old-fashioned, and whether they could be fired was a question. When the new cannon was in Fujian, Li Hongzhang had no money to buy it. Fortunately, Liu Mingchuan supported a regiment of mortars, otherwise Li Hongzhang would have to make trouble.

After a short-term raid training, Hunan farmers and local soldiers were basically shooting how to shoot. As for the accuracy of the shooting, Li Hongzhang himself was not sure, but he had to rush the ducks to put them on the shelves in a hurry.

For landing operations to defend against the enemy, the best time is when the enemy lands. The military book also says to attack it in half. Although he knows that the artillery of the coalition warships is powerful, Li Hongzhang does not want to give up the best opportunity to destroy the enemy. Therefore, how to hide the troops well so that the troops can avoid the damage caused by the coalition artillery strikes has become the most troublesome thing for Li Hongzhang.

It was still the new army supported by Liu Mingchuan. They suggested that Li Hongzhang dig trenches and build some solid fortifications. The local residents of Taiwan also came up with a way to dig traps at the landing site. However, this method should not work. Once the cannons were blasted, the traps were exposed, but it should have some effect. However, it should have some effect on intimidating coalition soldiers. In short, Li Hongzhang worked together and used all the methods he could use.

The coalition finally appeared in Taiwan Island's sight. Adams chose the place where he landed in Keelung. Because there was a coal mine in Keelung, but Adams didn't know that Li Hongzhang had someone to blow up the coal mine long ago.

Looking at the Keelung Pier that was blown into ruins in the telescope, Adams immediately fainted and cursed: "Damn Chinese, is it necessary to do so terrible?" The dock was dead, and the Chinese might be hiding in the corner, waiting to shoot the black guns of the landing troops.

Choosing the landing location, logging in quickly, and then sending people to repair the dock are all the most urgent matters for Adams at the moment. The old rules are that the Royal Navy's naval guns are covered with dense artillery fire at all places where they seem to be able to hide. The artillery shots look very effective, and soon Adams saw the Chinese soldiers running away from the telescope. What satisfied Adams even more was that after the artillery bombardment, dense traps were exposed on the landing ground. "The backward Chinese actually want to use these methods to deal with the coalition forces and let them tremble in front of our artillery fire." Adams laughed wildly.

Looking at the local recruits from Taiwan and from Hunan, even the Fujian troops brought out by Li Hongzhang himself, there were chaos to varying degrees. A large number of soldiers were frightened by the dense artillery fire of the coalition forces. Some lay on the ground and hugged their heads, and some ran out of the trenches to escape, but soon these soldiers fell into the artillery fire of the coalition forces.

As both soldiers, the new army soldiers seemed much more calm. Relying on the cover of the trenches, the new army soldiers were lying in the trenches and bunkers, quietly waiting for the coalition forces to start landing.

Li Hongzhang is now beginning to be glad that his decision is wise. It is really a wise decision to place a new army company on the front line of the front line. When the other soldiers saw that the fleeing people were either killed or injured, they looked at the quiet New Army soldiers in the trenches and quickly understood that it was safest to hide in the trenches at this time. With the New Army as an example, the chaos of other troops was soon restored. In fact, these New Army soldiers were also afraid of such dense artillery fire. But the New Army had iron discipline, and all new army officers and soldiers had to abide by it. What's more, most of the New Army officers came from the military academy opened by Yang Yi. They all knew that when the enemy's artillery fire was to hide in the trenches. The officers didn't know how many times they had told the soldiers about these principles, so although the New Army soldiers were also afraid, they all lay there honestly.

The artillery fire of the coalition forces was effective. Li Hongzhang deployed 3,000 troops on the front line. After a round of artillery fire of the coalition forces, more than 500 people were killed or injured due to the death and injury of many soldiers. Li Hongzhang saw this scene with a telescope when he was away and was so angry that he bit his teeth.

After the coalition forces put down the boat and the landing troops were ready, the artillery fire began to strike in depth. The landing coalition forces rowed the boat hard and came towards the shore.

"Dong, dong, dong." The mortar troops of the new army began to block the landing coalition forces. The mortar shells raised a bunch of water on the sea, making a dull sound. The coalition fleet immediately suppressed artillery fire, but it seemed that the effect was not very good. The mortar positions of the new army were chosen to be hidden and scattered. The artillery fire of the fleet did not cause much damage to the mortar regiment, but the woods hiding the mortars were damaged, and many trees were blown down.

This time, Adams was dissatisfied with the naval guns because the landing ships were constantly overwhelmed by the invisible artillery of the Chinese army, and some were hit directly, and the soldiers on the ship were blown up. Adams immediately asked all artillery fire to find the position of the Chinese artillery and attack the artillery of the Chinese army with all his strength. Soon the woods hidden by the Chinese artillery were shrouded in a sea of ​​fire, and the artillery fire of the Chinese artillery was gradually suppressed. Adams was satisfied. However, Adams had to know that the Chinese artillery was not suppressed by his artillery fire, but retreated to the back position according to the pre-plan. Adams would not be angry to death, and he would definitely scold the Chinese for being cunning.

It’s not that Li Hongzhang was cunning, but that Li Hongzhang had a decent artillery like the mortar regiment. This was the treasure in Li Hongzhang. He didn’t plan to fight with artillery and coalition forces at all. He shot a base shell and made some advantage, so Li Hongzhang asked the artillery to retreat.

Without the suppression of Chinese artillery, the progress of the coalition landing troops was much smoother. Soon the first batch of soldiers boarded the beach and began to rush up to the high ground on the shore. This time, the coalition became smarter and did not arrange neatly, but rushed up in a scattered formation.

The coalition landing forces continued to approach the positions of the Chinese army and entered the effective range of the rifle.

"Fight", with the order, the company of the new army fired the first shot. The first time I saw the foreigners with red heads and green eyes, except for the new army soldiers, the other soldiers were somewhat afraid. However, seeing the coalition soldiers constantly falling under the guns of the new army, the soldiers of other troops also understood that the guys in their hands could kill these monsters, so they all picked up the rifles, were in a hurry, and did not aim much, and they attacked the coalition forces.

After more than an hour of fierce fighting, the coalition forces' first charge was defeated, and the landing coalition forces left hundreds of bodies. In terms of military quality, the soldiers in Li Hongzhang's hands were obviously inferior to the coalition soldiers. As the defensive side, in the battle just now, except for the positions guarded by the new army, other positions were rushed up by the coalition forces. The soldiers fought their best to defeat the coalition forces. As the defensive side, they occupied favorable terrain. The battle just now also lost hundreds of people, which is a pity.

Adams soon discovered that the frontal position more than 100 meters guarded by the new army was the place where the Chinese army had the most tight defense. The defense of the positions on both wings of the Chinese army seemed to be obviously insufficient in combat effectiveness. Adams immediately made adjustments. A few artillery fire suppressed the frontal position, concentrated other firepower, and attacked the two wings of the Chinese army.

Adams' adjustment soon came to an effect. Under the attack of fierce artillery fire, the coalition forces concentrated more than 5,000 soldiers to launch a fierce charge towards the two wing positions of the Chinese army. Although the Taiwanese soldiers were also brave, they were outnumbered and the soldiers' quality was obviously low. After more than two hours of tug-of-war, the coalition forces finally broke through the left-wing position guarded by Taiwanese soldiers and stood firm.

After the position was broken, the Chinese soldiers exposed their low training quality. When they retreated, the soldiers almost scattered, and immediately exposed the flanks of the frontal troops to the coalition forces. The entire front-line defense force had the possibility of being surrounded by the coalition forces. Li Hongzhang had to order to give up the front-line positions completely and retreat to the line of defense that had been arranged long ago.

After more than four hours of fierce fighting, the coalition forces successfully landed on Taiwan Island. Facing the retreating Chinese army, although the coalition forces wanted to pursue the victory, they soon discovered a serious problem. In the same place, the Chinese army ran over and it would fall into a trap if the coalition forces walked over and saw their companions screaming like pigs in the trap. Thinking about the fact that the Chinese people dug out the sharpened bamboo in the trap just now. Faced with the unfamiliar terrain, the coalition forces had to give up their plan to pursue quickly and sent troops to eliminate the traps along the way. Other troops began to consolidate their positions and cover the large troops to land.

The first battle between Li Hongzhang and the coalition forces ended like this. The second line of defense was more than ten miles away from the first line of defense. This time the artillery fire of the coalition fleet should not be able to be fired, but Li Hongzhang was still worried and felt the serious shortage of his troops in training for the first time.
Chapter completed!