For more than half a month, the excerpt is enough to go back and forth, and now the situation in Jiangnan is critical, Zuo Jigao and Zeng Disheng asked for the expansion of the army at the same time, and the court calculated it, and one person gave a quota of 15,000, which is a bit big, but Yang Meng, who is in Jiujiang, knows that this is just a means for the court to balance itself.

In the first battle of Huang'e, the training of the sailor regiment is somewhat visible, 20,000 people are equivalent to the combat power of the official army of sixty or seventy thousand, the second army of Hunan and Chu has been inkblot in Anhui and Jiangxi, and there are many long-haired thieves for one reason, and this Xiangchu is not as good as the sailor regimental training is another reason.

The expansion of the second army of Hunan and Chu to 70,000 is also very necessary for the imperial court, during this period of time Jiangsu and Zhejiang are frequently urgent, the situation in the south of the Yangtze River is already erosive, the official army is not strong, the water division regiment training does not dare to use, retreat to the second, and can only reuse Xiangyong and Chu Yong.

There is another point, the court can see clearly, although the combat power of this brave battalion is stronger than that of the official army, but the checks and balances are also simple, without food, the brave battalion will naturally disperse, and after the Anqing battle, it is not too difficult to remove some of Zeng Zuo's brave battalion.

Even if the second army of Hunan and Chu is unfavorable in battle, the court still has Yang Laosan in his hand! It's really time for Jiangnan to fall, and the imperial court won't let Yang Meng be idle.

The order to expand the army was there, Zuo Jigao and Zeng Laojiu also showed their real skills, and the two of them worked together to produce 3,000 muskets, and placed the heavy artillery in the Anqing army in front of Jixian Pass, and the 'rumbling' cannon sound resounded throughout the river, and the cannon sound of Anqing could be heard for dozens of miles along the river.

After more than ten days of hard work, dozens of artillery pieces were scrapped, and Jixian Pass in the north of Anqing City was still not moving. Solid shells siege the city. To be honest, it's a scare thing. Although it can also kill and injure some long-haired thieves, the cost is suffocating compared to the number of thieves killed.

"Ji Gong, it's not a way to fight like this! The iron cannon cast by the imperial court is not helpful, and it will be scrapped for a day, this Western cannon is not bad, but the price is also terrifying!

This battle has begun, you have to find a way! ”

Jixian Pass Front. Zeng Laojiu also went to see it, although it was lively below, but there were many people watching it above! As long as the muzzle is avoided, it is also very safe to watch the play in the city.

"In the past, it was my left mule that went out to play a scoundrel, you Zeng Lao Jiu is good, you played a scoundrel on my side, the kung fu in the past few days, the artillery and rockets have been tried, but they can't hit it, I have some ideas here. I'm afraid that others will see the joke! ”

The battle in Jixian Pass was unsatisfactory, although it looked vigorous. But at the end of the day, he couldn't kill a few long-haired thieves, and Zuo Jigao was also frowning in the camp, this job was not easy to do.

It's good if there are more mortars, but it's a pity that Yang Laosan doesn't give flowering bombs, if there are more flowering bombs, this episode of Xianguan will be unlucky. It's not that there are no mortars in the army of the left mule, but more than a dozen mortars are given to Susong's side, and the three-pounder cannons are used here.

"Ji Gong, since there is a way, I have to talk about it, it is a credit to Anqing, if we can't beat it, outsiders will laugh at our incompetence!"

The guards of Jixian Pass are also the elite of long-haired thieves, there are guns, it is not easy to get up, it is hard to use shelling, I am afraid that I can't break the city wall of Jixian Pass for a year, Zeng Laojiu is also helpless, except for the ladder has not been tried, other methods have been tried, useless!

"Back to the gun, I wonder if Yuan Fu has heard of it?"

"Oh...... It seems to have been read in a history book, but when I read it, I was not very impressed, Ji Gong told me in detail? ”

Compared with Zuo Jigao, Zeng Guoquan is an orthodox reader, and he doesn't have much knowledge of miscellaneous studies.

"It's a stone thrower!"

"What is the use of a stone thrower? This iron cannonball can't hit it, and it's for nothing to change the stone shell! ”

"Yuan Fu, what if you change the bucket full of earth medicine? This explosion is raining all over the sky! ”

"Then try!"

After listening to Zuo Jigao's explanation, Zeng Laojiu was also a little moved, not because of anything else, but because Anqing was difficult to fight.

"There are no drawings."

"Isn't that for nothing?"

"I don't have it here, but someone does!"

"The one from Jiujiang?"

"Correct solution!"

"Alas...... I don't know if I don't fight, but when I fight, I know how powerful that person is, how did Jiujiang City get down in the first place? ”

Speaking of the old things, Zeng Laojiu was also embarrassed, his brother suffered a blood loss in Jiujiang, and Yang Laosan occupied Jiujiang quietly, and people have to die more than people!

The drawings of the giant trebuchet, Yang Meng really has it, this thing is something that has been eliminated for hundreds of years, as soon as Zuo Jigao's letter arrived, Yang Meng even brought the drawings and wood, and transported it over.

Although the trebuchet is backward, Yang Meng wants to see the result, if this soil medicine bag is useful, he can let Xishan develop a projectile device that uses soil medicine as power.

Sometimes, technology isn't the most important thing, power is, especially in siege warfare.

How powerful is a flowering bullet? If you throw a few hundred pounds of medicine bags into it, you will die a lot!

With the drawings, it is not very difficult to build a trebuchet, wood and bamboo can be made, but the range of the trebuchet has plunged the Anqing front into a bloody battle.

A bucket full of earth medicine, but twenty or thirty catties, three hundred meters can not enter, two hundred meters can also be thrown in, since Zeng Zuo's earth medicine barrel was thrown into Jixian Pass, Shi Dakai couldn't sit still.

Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guoquan outside Anqing City, all of them are fucking non-asshole goods, ten trebuchets, one day's kung fu killed and injured nearly 3,000 heavenly soldiers, Jixian Pass is narrow, and the people in the city are concentrated, this medicine barrel full of stones, iron nails and the like was blown up, and it was really a big piece when it died.

Qing Demon's artillery hit accurately, even if the artillery of Jixian Pass can get those trebuchets, it can't be set up, the siege of the city is only one day's effort, the men and horses of Jixian Pass, almost collapsed, in the face of this huge lethal trebuchet, Shi Dakai has no choice but to instigate the men and horses to go out of the city to fight.

But the two on the left had a gun array next to the artillery array, and attacked all the way, although ten trebuchets were destroyed. But the damage paid by Shi Dakai was surprisingly large. Connected to the injured people and horses in Jixian Pass. Within two days, more than 10,000 people were lost on the Anqing front, which is an unimaginable result!

But in the face of foreign guns, artillery, soil medicine, and trebuchets, Shi Dakai was also helpless, this Anqing could not be lost, and he could not fight in a roundabout way, so he could only fight to the death against Zeng Zuo and the others.

Foreign guns, Tianjing is not nothing. After Shi Dakai sent the battle report of Anqing's difficulty in protecting to Tianjing, it also attracted Yang Xiuqing's attention, Anqing couldn't lose it, although he didn't want to assign muskets and artillery to Shi Dakai, but Shi Dakai was a sincere person, he said that Anqing couldn't hold it, then Anqing would really not be protected.

Although the Kingdom of Heaven made a deal with the British merchants, the foreign guns obtained were limited after all, and the British were still busy finishing up the war in Crimea at that time, and they did not want to support the Taiping army. After the rejection of the treaty again, England also wanted this great empire in the East. Immerse yourself in the civil war, and in this way, their chances are much greater.

This time it was the British minister Pa Xia Li who negotiated with Yang Xiuqing, and it is unknown what Yang Meng talked about between the two, after all, it involved the secrets of the heavenly kingdom, and Yang Xiuqing's secrecy work was good, but the arms of the three ships were all in Tianjing City, but they could not be hidden from Yang Meng.

After more than a month, Shi Dakai stationed in Anqing, not only has a considerable number of muskets, but also has a batch of Seiko three-pounder guns, although Anqing is in wartime, the intelligence is not very timely, but the shadow roughly estimated, Anqing City in the city of foreign guns no less than 5,000, foreign artillery at least thirty or fifty, such a firepower configuration, has been higher than Zeng Zuo's two Hunan and Chu coalition army.

With these things, the battle situation in Anqing became more and more intense, but Zeng Zuo's progress was pitiful, in addition to being able to break through a few strongholds, more than a month, the Hunan and Chu coalition forces lost more than 2,000 people, and they did not take Jixian Pass.

The long-haired thief has a large number of foreign guns and cannons, this matter Zuo Jigao and Zeng Disheng, naturally will not sit idly by, after the excerpt arrived in Beijing, the people in the imperial court, afraid of causing disputes, ignored the way of foreign guns and foreign cannons, but for the second army of Hunan and Chu, the imperial court is considered to be atmospheric, and allocated 700,000 taels of silver from Anhui and Jiangxi for the purchase of foreign guns and cannons.

Of the 700,000 taels of silver, not a penny was left in Yang Meng's hands, and Zeng Zuo of Anqing also had enough eight-pounder cannons and twenty-four-pounder mortars to defend Jixian Pass.

700,000 taels of silver, Zeng Zuo was mostly used to purchase artillery and flowering shells, and the musket was only purchased more than 1,000 pieces, after all, this musket wanted a large number of equipment, and the silver needed was in millions, and now Zeng Zuo's financial resources are not enough to support the cost of this million.

Nearly 500 three-pounder guns, eight-pounder guns, and 24-pounder mortars, half of which were left on the Anqing front, although the number of muskets in Shi Dakai's hands was sufficient, but the artillery and flowering shells were important military assets that Britain was unwilling to sell to the Taiping army in large quantities.

In the response of Yingli, Yang Meng, and the imperial court, the situation in Anqing has become a stalemate of confrontation, intimidated by a large number of muskets in Anqing City, Zuo Jigao and Zeng Laojiu on the front line did not dare to forcibly break the city and fight street battles.

Anqing became a stalemate, and the breaking point in Jiangnan was moved to Anhui and Jiangxi provinces, Zuo Jigao left Du Fuhu and Zeng Laojiu to continue to encircle Anqing, and he was the main force of Chu Yong and began to prepare to break through in Anhui.

Jiangxi's Zeng Disheng, all the way steadily and steadily, walked smoothly, with the Hunan and Chu armies, Yang Meng will not be afraid of the war between the two lakes, Zeng Disheng and Zuo Jigao, if the Taiping army is allowed to run into the two lakes again, it will also seem too incompetent.

Yang Meng is now more concerned about Pasha Li's entry into Tianjing, which is a not very good sign, which means that the English are going to take action against the Qing Dynasty, and the English seem to know more thoroughly about the war situation in Jiangnan than the imperial court.

If it weren't for the recent batch of guns, Shi Dakai would have to defend Anqing steadily, which was very laborious, but with 5,000 foreign guns, Zeng Zuo's team would not dare to go deep into the surroundings of Anqing lightly, a gun array, several salvos, can kill thousands of people, such a loss is unbearable for the second army of Hunan and Chu, Anqing is not lost, and the chaos in Jiangnan is still there.

The chaos in the south of the Yangtze River is still there, and the imperial court will have to pay considerable financial resources and manpower to exterminate the Taiping army.

There are Taiping troops inside, and there are people from foreign powers, how should the imperial court choose?

This Yang Meng also has a rough idea in his heart, sign the alliance under the city, and destroy the Taiping Army first!

Compared with the great powers, the Taiping army is a greater threat to the imperial court, even if the treaties of the great powers are harsh, for the imperial court, it will not hurt the country, unlike the treaty, the Taiping army is a bandit, it is to usurp the Qing Dynasty, such a choice, Yang Meng can think lightly.

I'm afraid that the ministers of the military aircraft will also make such a choice, right? Even if the military aircraft are opposed, to be honest, the current Qing court is indeed unable to support the war with the great powers.

If you want to deal with the great powers, you have to stop fighting with the Taiping army, which is more humiliating for the Qing Dynasty than the land reparations, and now it seems that it is time to give the imperial court some confidence.

Yang Meng wanted to give the imperial court confidence, in the land of Gyeonggi, transferred away the coalition army of Lin Ji Li, Seng Gelinqin and Shengbao, and it was idle, even if the imperial court sent Monk Gelinqin to aid Jiangnan, the land of Gyeonggi, there would be a considerable number of troops, so that Yang Meng could delay a certain amount of time. (To be continued......)