Chapter 41: Defend Taiwan (3)

When Li Hongzhang made up his mind to defend Taipei, the coalition forces had already started to press up to Taipei from Keelung, and the coalition vanguard troops had already begun small-scale tentative contact with the defenders in front of the second line of defense.

How should Taipei defend? Li Hongzhang is very grateful to Liu Mingchuan for the forces of the two regiments supported by Liu Mingchuan, and the two regiment leaders were graduated from the military academy run by Yang Yi. They received formal military theory education. A considerable part of the textbooks were compiled by Yang Yi, which contained content on how to conduct defensive wars in cities.

Establishing a solid peripheral defense system, this new defense theory is something Li Hongzhang has never heard of. In the past, urban defense wars, no matter what peripheral positions are needed, they rely on solid city walls to resist the enemy's attack.

Wang Chenghai, the commander of the New Army's artillery, proposed a plan to establish a fulcrum on the periphery and cooperate with the city's defense operations. Cai Xudong, the commander of the infantry, boldly proposed to pull a force around the periphery before the coalition forces siege, use the favorable terrain in the mountains to harass the coalition forces from the side and back to cooperate with the city's defense. The 20,000 troops in Li Hongzhang's hands were all in Taipei. In this way, Li Hongzhang still felt the shortage of troops, after all, he was facing a well-trained coalition forces of 50,000.

The outer position in the direction of Keelung is ready-made, and the second line of defense is not far from Taipei. At Wang Chenghai's suggestion, Li Hongzhang took advantage of the time when the coalition forces stopped the attack a few days ago to increase the depth of the second line of defense. Now it is equivalent to the outer position.

After Li Hongzhang agreed, Cai Xudong led two battalions of more than 700 troops to withdraw from Taipei and enter the mountainous area. The purpose was to frequently move behind the coalition forces, so that the coalition forces dared not attack Taipei with all their strength.

Li Hongzhang also thanked God and the former corrupt officials. After the coalition landed in other places, heavy rain fell in Taiwan. The officials on Taiwan Island wanted to make money on weekdays and did not have the heart to build roads. After heavy rain, the roads were really difficult to walk. The coalition's encirclement of Taipei was delayed by heavy rain for two days. In just these two days, with the help of many volunteers to help Li Hongzhang help the people of Taipei, Li Hongzhang dug a line of defense composed of trenches in other directions. Although there was a lot of water in the trenches, it was dug out after all. After the sky was clear, it was scooped out the water, which was a preliminary fortification.

In the direction of Keelung, about one mile northwest of Taipei, there is a high ground, and there are many treacherous graves on the high ground. Locals call it the treacherous graves. Although the altitude of the treacherous graves is only more than 200 meters, the only commanding height near Taipei can see the entire Taipei after reaching the top. Once this treacherous graves are lost, the coalition forces can set up cannons on it. At that time, the entire Taipei will be exposed under the artillery fire of the coalition forces.

In such an important position, Li Hongzhang believed in his relatives even more. Li Hongming, a clan brother who had not yet been out of five squads, has followed Li Hongzhang to eliminate the uprising peasants and made many military achievements. He is now the Qianzong under Li Hongzhang.

The war was about to come, and Li Hongzhang held the last military meeting. Li Hongzhang made the final mobilization of all officers above the battalion before the war.

"Brothers, I'm sorry. I could have retreated to the mountain, but I chose to stick to Taipei, which was also a burden to everyone. Most of you came with me in Fujian. I, Li Hongzhang, brought everyone here and fell to death. Here I apologize to your wives' old novels."

"Sir, I've been hanging my head on my belt when I come out to serve as a soldier to eat food. Now I can die to kill foreign devils!!" An officer stood up and saluted Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang knew that this person was sent by his teacher Zeng Guofan, who was responsible for leading the three thousand Xianggongs, named Zeng Yiquan. At this time, he stood up and expressed his attitude to the three thousand Xianggongs. There has never been a military force in Hunan. Hunan people are tough and brave and fighting. Many famous officials and generals have emerged throughout the dynasties. Now that these three thousand Xianggongs join, it has undoubtedly greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of Li Hongzhang's troops.

"Well, death is lighter than feathers, and more important than Mount Tai. If Taipei does not defend, Taiwan will not have a great threat to the strait. If we do not defend Taipei, it will not have much significance for us to come to Taiwan. Now that the national crisis is in the face of the crisis, our 20,000 warriors will ignore Taipei, which is disloyal to the court and unrighteous to the people. Defending Taipei and holding the coalition forces is to contribute to the decisive battle in the mainland. In order to reduce the pressure on the mainland, as long as we can defeat the foreign devils and drive the foreign devils out of China, it is worth it for me to sacrifice here." Speaking of which, Orchid looked around and found that all the officers were solemn. Li Hongzhang continued: "Everyone, the battle in Taipei may be the last battle for you and me. All positions must not retreat without permission. We must fight to the last person. Please everyone."

Five days later, Taiwan Yang Yi learned about the situation in Taiwan in Beijing and said, "Li Hongzhang is confused. I asked him to defend Taiwan, just to hope that Taiwan will not become a strategic springboard for the coalition forces. Although it is of great significance to defend Taipei, it is not necessary." Then, Yang Yi said, "I didn't expect that Li Hongzhang actually had this kind of heroism. If you inform him, you should notify Li Hongzhang as soon as possible. Taipei does not have to defend it and break through immediately. Li Hongzhang is a talent, and it would be a pity to die in Taiwan." On the fifteenth day after the battle in Taipei began, Yang Yi's order was passed to Li Hongzhang.

June 8, 1860, this was a day worth remembering. On this day, the Battle of Taipei began. On this day, Chen Yucheng from Guangdong received a reply from Yang Yi, saying: "In the battle of Humen, we will show our army's prestige. If you do not respect me, I will order you. I will first withdraw your governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, but you will be temporarily replaced by you. After the war is over, it depends on your performance."

It was on this day that Chen Yucheng decided to launch the famous British-German ambush, and wrote a brilliant mark in the history of the invasion of the coalition forces.

On June 8, the coalition's attack on Taipei began. The Taipei defense battle was fought. The 50,000 coalition forces armed to the teeth fought against 20,000 Chinese troops. More than half of the Chinese troops were recruits. Needless to say, the gap in the quality of soldiers Anhui can be, the future of Taipei defense battle is worrying.

Adams also discovered the important position of the graveyard. The battle on the first day was focused on the competition for the graveyard. With the cooperation of thirty cannons, the five thousand soldiers of the coalition forces launched a crazy attack on more than 1,000 Chinese defenders on the graveyard. Li Hongming, the guard general of the graveyard, and Li Hongzhang, only explained before he left: "Brother, I'm sorry, be ready to die in battle."

On the morning of June, before the sun came out, it was already bright, and the dew on the branches had not yet dissipated, the silence of Taiwan's morning was awakened by the sound of the cannons of the coalition forces. Three hundred cannons and 50,000 British and French forces launched an attack on Taipei from the north, west and east directions.

On the graveyard, the coalition forces bombarded thirty cannons for half an hour and then began to charge. The defenders fought to the death with favorable terrain. Faced with the absolute superior enemy, the warriors of the Chinese army showed the courage to fight to the death.

On the first day, the burial graves shouted and killed the sky. Yi Qian Jianghuai children who followed Li Hongzhang from Anhui fought a desperate battle with the coalition forces. The fierce artillery fire and crazy charges of the coalition did not scare them away. Within a day, they repelled more than 30 attacks of the coalition forces, and every inch of the position was covered with blood from the warriors. The slightly injured did not go down the line of fire, and they were seriously injured and lying on the position, carrying two grenades on their bodies. After the brothers around were all sacrificed, when the coalition forces rushed to the position, they pulled the grenades in their arms.

It was extremely fierce, and the frontier positions were changed a few times on the cemetery. As soon as the coalition troops occupied a little position, Li Hongming sent someone to launch a counter-charge and retake the position. The two sides formed several tug-of-wars on the positions, and none of the Chinese soldiers retreated in the battle to resist foreign humiliation. The battle on the first day ended, and the positions were still firmly in the hands of the Chinese army. The coalition troops suffered nearly 600 casualties, and the defenders on the positions also paid the price of 400 sacrifices. Please remember, I said that it was sacrifice, only sacrifice, no injuries.

During the first day of the battle in Taipei, the coalition forces made little progress. Except for some of the peripheral positions intentionally giving up under the order of Li Hongzhang, the other positions were safe and sound. On the first day of the battle, the coalition forces suffered as many as 3,000 casualties, and Li Hongzhang's troops were missing more than 2,000 troops.

On June 9, Adams ordered the coalition forces to launch a more crazier attack on Taipei, and all defense lines in Taipei were in a hurry. Within a day, Li Hongzhang used only more than 300 reserve troops in his hand. These more than 300 people were the aces in Li Hongzhang's hand and the third battalion of infantry supported by Liu Mingchuan. The other two battalions were led by regiment commander Cai Xudong to fight around the periphery.

On this day, the coalition left more than 1,000 corpses on the grave trough, and only more than 200 people were left on the grave trough, including the 500 reserve team reinforced by Li Hongzhang. In other directions, after the defenders caused huge casualties to the coalition, the peripheral positions suffered losses, and the coalition gained some results. It is worth mentioning that on the defensive positions in the direction of Yilan, all the 300 Taiwanese high-mountain men died heroically when they held one position, and in front of their positions, the coalition also left a considerable number of corpses.
Chapter completed!