After the swearing-in ceremony, the army of the Western Expedition began to march to Xinjiang.

Although Zuo Zongtang's "Minister of Supervision of the New Military Affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu" was located in Suzhou, the various units of the Western Expedition Army did not assemble in Suzhou, but gathered in Anxi, which was closer to Xinjiang, and then set off in batches.

The main reason why it was necessary to set off in batches was that the water and grass resources along the way were limited, and it was impossible to provide drinking water and forage for the people and horses of the entire western expedition army at the same time; In addition, the pressure on logistics and supplies will be reduced by setting off in batches – the same as the limited water and grass resources along the way.

Liu Jintang led the old Hunan army first, and their task was to take over several strategic points near Urumqi that were still in the hands of the imperial court, and make all kinds of preparations before the war. The above-mentioned places, from east to west, are the ancient city, Jimusa, and Fukang, among which, Fukang is the closest to Urumqi.

Gansu enters Xinjiang, the first stop is Hami, from Hami to the north, the second station is Balikun, from Balikun to the west, to arrive at one of the final destinations, the ancient city.

After the old Hunan army arrived at Balikun, they divided their troops and stationed them in the places west of Balikun, such as Qiqitai, Sebikou, Dashi and Sanquan, to ensure the smooth passage between Balikun and the ancient city.

Subsequently, Zhan Donglu led the Xuan army to Hami. He ordered the military rations stored in Hami to be "divided into short shipments" and transported to Balikun, and from there to the ancient city. At the same time, all departments are required to arrive at the designated location within one month and be on standby.

In such a calm and orderly manner, a complete battle line and transportation route from Hami in the rear base to the ancient city of the front base were unfolded one after another, and they were endless.

Then. Zhan Donglu arrived in the ancient city from Balikun. The division of troops was stationed in the area east of the Mulei River. After everything is set up. He immediately went to Jimusa to discuss the plan of the army with Liu Jintang, who was stationed there.

The chief and deputy commanders of the Western Expeditionary Army soon reached a consensus: the ancient pasture land is the northern barrier of Urumqi, and if you want to take Urumqi, you must first take the ancient pastureland.

Liu Jintang said that the rebels had another reinforcement of about 3,000 people from Kashgar. Urumqi's original troops, Bai Yanhu's Shaanxi Hui, were about 1,500 or 600 people; Kashgar soldiers. About 3,300 or 400, plus this newly arrived reinforcement, all pulled down, Shaanxi Hui and Kashgar soldiers, a total of about 8,000 people.

In addition, Bai Yanhu also received a batch of Todexuan's old departments, and the number was about 8,000 people.

Most of these 16,000 or so rebels were deployed in the ancient pasturelands - the importance of the ancient pastures and the understanding of both the enemy and the enemy were the same.

Zhan Donglu expressed his appreciation for Liu Jintang's intelligence work. Then he asked him what he was most concerned about: intelligence showed that the rebels in Urumqi were there. I already have a considerable number of foreign guns, and I have also "taken advantage" of a few foreign cannons, according to Yizhai, in your opinion, how powerful can these weapons be in the hands of the traitors? How much of a threat will it pose to our army?

Liu Jintang said: "Our army has had some contact with the rebels, and in my opinion, the traitors' foreign guns are not to be worried! However, the rebels' artillery, after our troops arrived, have not yet seen their fire, and we do not know what the details are. Besides, the artillery bombardment is not very good at marking, and it is still necessary to ask the military gate to see it with your own eyes, so as to know in detail. ”

After the meeting, Liu Jintang accompanied Zhan Donglu and galloped hundreds of miles to Fukang, the closest to Urumqi, and then rode lightly to the ancient pasture land to reconnoiter the enemy's situation.

This reconnaissance is a "fire reconnaissance", that is, taking the initiative to shoot at the rebels in the ancient pasture land and luring the rebels to shoot back.

On the side of the ancient pasture, the gunshots rang out, but after a cup of tea, Zhan Donglu came to the conclusion: Liu Jintang is right, "The foreign guns of the traitors are not to be worried!" ”

First of all, the foreign guns of the traitors are all breech guns.

However, this is not the most critical, the power of the breech gun is naturally not as good as the breech gun, but if it is used well, it can also cause great trouble to the officers and soldiers.

When he was in the United States, in the Battle of Chattanooga, the Northern Army attacked the main ridge of the missionary heights, and in front of the last line of defense, the Xuan army, which was equipped with Spencer guns, was knocked down again and again by the breech guns of the Southern army, and suffered heavy casualties. In the end, if it weren't for the fact that the soldiers of the Southern Army accidentally detonated their own shells, triggering a large-scale martyrdom, it is not yet known who killed the deer.

On that occasion, the commander of the Confederate army did not mechanically shoehorn his troops into a line, but arranged in three columns, the soldiers in the first column were only responsible for firing, and the soldiers in the back two columns were only responsible for loading. When the first soldier finished shooting, the second soldier immediately handed over another rifle that had already been loaded, and the third soldier handed the third rifle that had been loaded to the second soldier, and quickly reloaded the first empty rifle himself.

The cycle repeats itself, the first soldier dies in battle, the second soldier immediately rises to the top, the third soldier enters the second column, and the third column fills the vacancy with a new soldier.

In this way, the rate of fire of the Yugoslav army was greatly increased, the density of firepower was not much better than that of breech guns, and from beginning to end, there were no obvious gaps in the defensive line.

In addition, the soldiers of the Southern Army shot accurately and had a firm will to fight, and the comrades in front were killed in battle, and the latter immediately made up for it, unwaveringly.

What about the rebels in front of you?

First, there is little to no point in accuracy.

Second, and more crucially, because of the slow rate of fire, the breech gun must be commanded by the commander and fired in one direction at the same time, so that it can obtain sufficient fire density, even if a single soldier has limited shooting skills and is not accurate, it can also achieve a certain killing effect.

The rebels at the head of the ancient pasture city have no such thing as "unified command" at all, you have a shot, I have a shot, an east shot, a west shot, a mess.

With such low military qualities, what is there to worry about?

As for the cannons—

The "fire reconnaissance" of the officers and soldiers still failed to attract the firing of the cannons erected by the rebels at the head of the city, and the rebels also knew that the other side was not a large army, and the shells were precious, and they did not dare to waste them easily.

Enough, though.

Zhan Donglu could see clearly in the telescope that it was a Napoleonic cannon.

Napoleonic artillery erected on the head of the city?

Zhan Donglu almost laughed out loud.

Napoleon cannon, the body of the gun is small and the recoil is large, and it can be fired in one shot. The huge recoil would push the entire gun backwards several meters. Therefore. An open and level ground was needed to set up artillery positions. In the Battle of Chattanooga mentioned above, for example, the artillery positions of the Southern Army were set up on the ridges, which were open but open, but the ground was rugged, which greatly limited the choice of gun positions and the overall power of the artillery. has had quite a hit.

The ancient pasture is just a small earthen city, how wide can it be on the city wall? One shot out, not afraid that the cannon will fall behind the city wall?

These rebels, probably thought, what kind of "red-coated cannon" is this, right?

Completely, there is no concept of "artillery positions".

After the firepower reconnaissance was completed, Zhan Donglu had eight or nine points in his heart, but. The military report to the imperial court still has to be said to be more serious:

"Unprepared. No, you can't. Bai Yanhu is connected to Andijan inside, and Rakshasa is connected to the outside, and he incites the earth to return with dangerous words, and the north and south roads of the Tianshan Mountains can breathe freely. Our army is thousands of miles away from thieves, and the army is out, and it is safe to win a battle? And in the prehistory, troops were used in the Western Regions, and the army was hungry. Now from the north road, it is advisable to first base Fukang as the land of grain storage and tunshi, anticipate the enemy's situation, enter can attack the ancient pastureland, withdraw from the Urumqi domain, retreat can fold the brunt. The art of war is to man, not to man. Jimusa went to the ancient pasture land for 400 miles, so I didn't treat the thief either. ”

That is to say, the old Hunan army of Jimusa and the Xuan army of the ancient city all moved forward to Fukang.

Then, "go out and pound the ancient pastureland." As soon as this pass is opened, the thieves of Wuyuan and Hongmiao will not be able to resist steadily, and the white rebels will go to Turpan to find a way."

Zhan Donglu returned to the ancient city, immediately began to move to the preparatory work, after everything was ready, that is, he led his troops to Jimusa, and Liu Jintang's department, and then, after Hunan Qianxuan, marched west in turn, along the way to divide troops to garrison, in order to prevent the rebels from harassing the rear.

A few days later, the Hunan and Xuan armies were stationed in Fukang, the Hunan army was stationed in the county seat, and the Xuan army was stationed in Jiuying Street in the east of the city.

After the chaos, Fukang City was full of hazel bushes and wild beasts, and the officers and soldiers seized the time to repair the roads so that the army could march.

At this time, Zhan Donglu received information that Agu Bai sent his cronie Yunusjiang, the one who led the remnants of 7,000 Kokand troops to Xinjiang to "Conglong", with a reinforcement of more than 10,000 people, and was on the way to Urumqi.

In view of the changes in the situation, Zhan Donglu believed that "although the rear team has not yet arrived, it is not appropriate to delay the division period," and it is necessary to launch an offensive immediately and capture Urumqi before the enemy brigade arrives.

Fukang is about 100 miles away from the ancient pastureland, and the large army walks this 100 miles, which is not as fast as a light horse, and the first thing to solve is the problem of drinking water.

Twenty miles west of Fukang City, there is still a waste ditch in Xishuerzi, which can be brought to the west of the city with a little excavation, and can be drunk by soldiers and horses.

From Xishu'er head to the west, within 60 miles, there is no water spring, only there is a dry well in Ganquan Fort on the way, even if the well water gushes again after digging, it can only be eaten by 100 people at most, and it is impossible to camp there at all.

As a result, the 60-mile journey became the biggest challenge of the march.

The only serious water source between Fukang and the ancient pasture land is called Huangtian, but it is not on the main road. Moreover, the rebels have already built a tree fence there and deployed heavy troops.

The road from Fukang to the ancient pasture land is a smooth road, and there is not a single rebel.

Bai Yanhu's abacus played very loudly: forcing and inducing the officers and soldiers to take the main road, hoping that when the officers and troops arrived at the ancient pastureland, they would be thirsty and tired due to lack of drinking water, and their combat effectiveness would be sharply reduced. Moreover, due to the lack of sufficient and reliable follow-up water supply, the officers and troops could not hold out for too long under the ancient pasture city. When the officers and troops had to retreat, he opened the city in pursuit and dealt a fatal blow to the officers.

The situation is very clear: if you want to take Urumqi, you must first take the ancient pastureland; If you want to take the ancient pastureland, you must first take the yellow field.

Okay, let's do a trick.

Zhan Donglu mobilized the battalions to the west of Fukang County to ten miles, and while camping on the spot, he dug abandoned channels and led water to the head of Xishuer.

At the same time, a team of men and horses was sent to arrive at Ganquan Fort in advance and dig dry wells.

In short, it looks like he's going to take the road.

The rebels thought that they had a plan, and the defenders of Huangtian were relieved in one breath. At this moment, Zhan Donglu had personally led the Xuan army, and under the cover of night, he unknowingly and unconsciously forced into Huangtian.

At dawn, after occupying the high ground near Huangtian and controlling the roads around Huangtian, the Xuan army launched a fierce attack.

The rebels, who woke up from their sleep, did not yet understand what was going on. The Xuan army has entered Zika. The rebels were in the dark. Collapse at the touch of a button. Throw away the baggage and flee in embarrassment.

As soon as I got out of the fence, I found that the roads on all sides had been stuck, and I rushed twice, with heavy casualties, but the pursuers had already pressed up, so I had to surrender.

The battle was fought cleanly. It also really achieved "total annihilation", almost no escaped, and there was no one who even fled back to the ancient pasture to report the news, so the rebels in the ancient pasture land on the front foot had to report the loss of Huangtian, and the Xuan army brigade on the back foot went to the city of the ancient pasture.

Zhan Donglu did not attack immediately.

Although the ancient pasture land is a soil city, but after all, it is not as good as Huangtian only the fence as a barrier, it has been on the front line of confrontation with the imperial court for a long time, and Tuo Dexuan has put a lot of effort into management. transferred to Bai Yanhu's hands, and strengthened the fortification day and night. It's kind of "solid". Zhan Donglu must be carefully arranged, in order to break it in one drum; Meantime. Strictly seal and block, "curb its rush, in order to gather annihilation".

In addition, Zhan Donglu also got a message from the captives in Huangtian: Hongmiaozi, the flank of the ancient pasture, was originally defended by Ma Ming, the general of Tu Dexuan, with 8,000 descendants, but someone told Bai Yanhu that Ma Ming intended to surrender to the imperial court, so he took the opportunity of convening a military meeting to suddenly attack and arrest Ma Ming. However, because there was no evidence of Ma Ming's fornication with the imperial court, Bai Yanhu did not dare to kill him, for fear of causing a mutiny, so he would only escort him to Kashgar and ask the "emir" to fall.

Although the mutiny did not happen, the hearts of the 8,000 soldiers were fluctuating, and Bai Yanhu did not dare to put them on the front line anymore, so he had to transfer most of them back to Urumqi, and then transfer the Kashgar soldiers who were originally stationed in Urumqi and his descendants to Shaanxi and transfer them to Hongmiaozi. In this way, although the number of Urumqi's defense troops has increased, the quality has greatly decreased - because the composition has become mainly to surrender troops, even if there is no rebellion, morale is low, and combat effectiveness is very weak.

Ma Ming's plan to surrender to the imperial court, I don't know if it's true or false - Zhan Donglu has not received any information in this regard, but the defenders of Hongmiaozi have been replaced by Kashgar soldiers and Shaanxi Hui, but it is true, that is, the main force of the rebels in Urumqi is all gathered in the ancient pasture land and Hongmiaozi, if the ancient pasture can be wiped out in a battle, then Urumqi will probably "

At least, there will be no strong resistance.

Therefore, it is all the more necessary to make careful arrangements "with a view to gathering annihilation."

The lord of the ancient pasture land will be Azmukur - the leading general of the first batch of reinforcements sent by Agubai after Bai Yanhu killed Tu Dexuan and occupied the magpie's nest; The master of Hongmiaozi will be Ma Rende, the descendant of Bai Yanhu, who followed him all the way from Shaanxi to Xinjiang. As for Bai Yanhu himself, the captives don't know where he is, anyway, it's either the ancient pasture or the red temple, and it can't be in Urumqi.

Zhan Donglu judged that the ancient pasture must ask for help from the red temple, and the red temple must also come to the aid in the starry night, otherwise, once the ancient pasture land is lost, the red temple will be difficult to support alone, and the north gate of Urumqi will be opened.

After repeated discussions with Liu Jintang and others, a plan for encircling the point and sending aid was formed.

Liu Jintang and Tao Maolin are responsible for encircling the point, Liu Jintang is stationed in the east and northeast of the city, and Tao Maolin is stationed in the southeast of the city, temporarily "leading but not starting"; The Xuan army, with the cooperation of Lei Zhengwan's department, was responsible for sending reinforcements.

The rebels in Hongmiaozi really came to help "on time" - it was completely within Zhan Donglu's expectations, but what Zhan Donglu didn't expect was that as soon as the rebels came into contact, they immediately messed up, collided with each other before and after, and twisted together.

Xuan Jun Daqi: We didn't fight much, did we?

It turned out that as soon as the guns rang out, the small number of Tu Dexuan's surrendered troops among the rebels did not resist at all, turned around and ran, colliding with the Kashgar soldiers and the Shaanxi Hui, and the whole team was immediately in a mess.

As mentioned earlier, Bai Yanhu transferred most of the 8,000 Tu Dexuan who were originally stationed in Hongmiaozi back to Urumqi, leaving about one-third. The reason why all the surrendered personnel were not transferred back to Urumqi was that if all the 8,000 people were transferred back, the proportion of surrendered personnel in the Urumqi defense army would be too high, and in the event of chaos, the Kashgar soldiers and Shaanxi Hui who remained in Urumqi would not be able to suppress them.

I didn't expect a mistake in my mind to lead to today's situation!

Interestingly, this situation is not what Xuan Jun is happy to see.

The plan of the Xuan army was to first show the enemy that he was weak, lead these rebels forward, and then divide the troops to cut off their rear roads, tie the "pockets", and then lay a dead hand, and annihilate them with one blow.

At this moment, the encirclement has not yet been formed, and the enemy army has been in disarray, this battle. It's likely to be a rout.

But - hehe. The rebels are still very powerful.

Shaanxi Hui among the rebels. If it was placed in the past, when he met Xuan Jun, he only heard the wind and ran away, but now he is holding a foreign gun in his hand, he is bold and fat, and he has a strong self-suggestion psychologically, thinking that he has leveled with his opponent, so "the enemy meets each other." is extraordinarily red", all of them move forward bravely, and want to avenge an arrow. Therefore, the troops of Tuo Dexuan pressed over and collided with each other, and although Shaanxi Hui was in chaos, he shouted loudly and refused to retreat.

As for the Kashgar soldiers, they don't know the strength of the Xuan army at all.

The backbone of the Kashgar soldiers were all Kokands. Since entering Xinjiang, he has regarded himself as a conqueror all the way. Why is it that the army of the imperial court is similar to the soldiers of Yarkand, Hotan, Kuqa and Urumqi, and the loss of Huangtian is just a cold shot, what's the big deal? So, with the people who turned around, they crowded together, scolded and scolded, and refused to retreat.

Just made a mess like this, disturbing endlessly, not before, not after, and finally, for the Xuan army to encircle, "bought" precious time.

When the Xuan army launched a formal attack and bullets rained down, the rebels realized that they were not in the right way!

The Kashgar soldiers couldn't hold back for the first time - they had never seen such dense and fierce fire, and they had never seen it with the Russians!

Then came the Shaanxi Hui, seeing the comrades beside him, falling one after another, everyone was stunned, in a hurry, and forgot how to load gunpowder and bullets! One or two shots are released indiscriminately, and I don't know where the bullets are flying - this, this, this, it's not even at all!

Needless to say, they threw away their weapons one by one, raised their hands and heads, and surrendered on their knees.

It didn't take long for Hongmiaozi's reinforcements to collapse entirely.

Finally, "there are few enemies that escape".

The sniper battle of Hongmiaozi did not become the rout battle that I feared before, but an out-and-out annihilation battle.

The destruction of the Hongmiaozi reinforcements caused 10,000 points of damage to the psychology of the rebels in the ancient pastureland.

The artillery of the Xuan army spoke first.

This batch of cannons is no longer the Napoleonic cannon used in Pinggan's return, but the newly reequipped Krupp steel breech gun of the Xuan army, which arrived in Gansu after the Battle of Suzhou. The artillery of Zhandonglu was the last batch of the Xuan Army to be equipped with Krupp guns, but they were the first to use this kind of guns in actual combat.

The target of the first round of shelling was the four Napoleonic guns on the head of the city.

The Xuan Army eliminated not long ago is also a Napoleonic cannon, but the two are not the same model, the Xuan Army is a twelve-pound, the so-called "Great Napoleon"; The rebel's Napoleonic cannon, which was noticeably smaller by one size by visual inspection, should have been six pounds, the so-called "little Napoleon".

Steel guns against copper guns, breech guns against breech guns.

It may be a bit inaccurate to say "yes", because the artillery positions of the Xuan army were located outside the effective range of the rebels' six-pounder Napoleonic guns.

Parameters such as firing range, firing range, and firing angle had been adjusted many times in advance, and the city near the rebel artillery position collapsed for a while, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

A cannonball, like a bullet from a sniper rifle, hit the gun carriage of a Napoleonic gun, and the Napoleon gun, along with the two gunners next to it, flew up together, spun around in the air for a few times, and then, with the screams of the rebels, it slammed into the open space behind the city wall, and the gun body, gun carriage, and wheels were torn apart.

In this clearing, the "reserves" of the rebels gathered, and when they landed, there was a blur of flesh and blood.

The gunners of the rebels immediately found out that they had actually become the first target of the official army - Allah! What is this? Aren't things like cannons all used to hit others? How...... Turned upside down and became a target? Or was it the first to be beaten?

The surviving gunners immediately reacted reasonably, and the one who moved the fastest turned around, jumped down, and jumped into the bloody clearing behind the city wall.

After the gunners dispersed, the artillery bombardment of the Xuan army did not stop, one after another shells, smashed on the head of the ancient pasture, and soon, the remaining three cannons of the rebels, along with the pheasant moat at the head of the city, fell together.

From beginning to end, the traitor's cannon was not fired once, and as a result, Zhan Donglu didn't know in the end, whether the Napoleonic cannon on the head of the ancient pasture city would be pushed under the city wall by his own recoil?

After eliminating the "artillery" of the rebels, the Xuan artillery began to target the walls of the ancient pasture.

Under the continuous bombardment of Krupp's artillery, the walls of the ancient pasture collapsed section by section, and at least four or more gaps appeared, and the Xuan artillery patiently expanded these gaps, and when these gaps were expanded to one or two zhang wide, Zhan Donglu ordered a general attack.

The officers and soldiers shouted, and the tide rushed up, attacking the city from several different directions.

When passing through the gap in the wall, there was little hindrance, and the defenders near the gap could have long since fled as far as they could. After attacking the city, the street fighting was not very fierce, and the rebels were more interested in how to escape.

The fighting will of the Kashgar soldiers with the Kokand people as the backbone obviously cannot be compared with the Shaanxi Hui and Ganhui - of course, among the defenders of the ancient pastureland, there are also Shaanxi Hui, but when they found that even if they had foreign guns and cannons, they could not "level" with the Xuan army at all, the psychological defense line quickly collapsed.

The rebels in the ancient pasture, compared with the rebels in the red temple, escaped a little, but the battle of the ancient pasture can be regarded as a "war of annihilation", and the rebels who escaped can no longer cause any substantial trouble to the next actions of the officers and soldiers.

After the war, the losses were checked, and in the entire Gumudi Campaign, counting from the surprise attack on Huangtian, the officers and soldiers had only 158 killed and 455 wounded, and the losses were negligible, and the rebels were annihilated and captured, and the guards below Azmukul, including Ma Shiwa, Wang Zhi, Jin Zhongwan and other leaders, were all killed.

However, Bai Yanhu and Ma Ren have two, and they are not among them.

The captured trophies can be regarded as the most valuable one of the previous battles since the Shaanxi-Gansu Rebellion: a large number of foreign guns, two or three foreign cannons - which one of the shells was directly hit by the shell, it will definitely not be repaired, and the remaining three will be repaired and repaired.

In addition, a letter from Urumqi to the ancient pasture side was also seized: "Wucheng has been sent to Wucheng, and now Wucheng is short of defense, and the troops in southern Xinjiang cannot arrive quickly, so you can follow the rules, otherwise you can retreat to Wucheng and hold on." ”

From this, Zhan Donglu judged, "With the ancient pasture, the thieves will be annihilated, and the rebels will be afraid to hear the wind and take advantage of the victory, and they can go down with one drum." ”

So it was decided: without resting, immediately attack Urumqi.

Zhandong Luliu Tao Mao Forest Department guarded the ancient pastureland, and he and Liu Jintang led a large army to Urumqi.

The scouts went first and kept returning: on the way to Urumqi, I saw the rout of the rebels in twos and threes, and there was no trace of the rebels forming into a group.

Soon, the officers and troops arrived in Urumqi and found that Urumqi had almost become an empty city, and the rebels had already dispersed, including thousands of people who had surrendered to Tu Dexuan.

Interrogating the captives, the remnants of Kashgar and Shaanxi Hui have fled to Dabancheng, southeast of Urumqi - yes, the Dabancheng of "The Girl of Dabancheng Has Long Braids".

At this point, the Battle of Urumqi ended, and the first important town in northern Xinjiang, which had been lost for nearly four years, returned to the hands of the Chinese.

For the Battle of Urumqi, the publisher of the British "Times" at that time, John . Walter, commented:

"The march was carried out with such astonishing concealment, and the attack was so swift and skillful; For these reasons, its effectiveness has been further enhanced, which has never been seen before in the history of China and Central Asia. ”

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(7,100 words in large chapter)

*(To be continued.) )

PS: 7,100 words, it should be considered a "big chapter", right? Hee-hee! In addition, this is the chapter with the largest number of words written in "Chaoqing" so far, for the sake of this part, please give a ticket to all book friends! Thanks, lion!

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