Just when Grant and Montauban were discussing and preparing to let the artillery bombard the mound behind the Taiping Army's horizontal formation, Xiao Yungui under the apricot yellow banner on the mound said lightly to the herald: "Order the artillery regiment to fire and suppress the enemy artillery." Then he said to Qian Jiang and other entourage: "Go to the back of the hill to avoid the artillery, the enemy's artillery fire is coming soon." The soldiers of the 1st and 2nd regiments lurking here were ordered to hold on first, no matter how heavy the enemy's artillery fire was. ”

Sure enough, when the apricot yellow banner slowly disappeared behind the hill, the artillery fire of the coalition army began to pour down, and the artillery fire of the two field artillery squadrons was still very fierce, but soon the artillery fire of the Taiping army also began to roar, trying to suppress the artillery of the coalition army.

There were three types of Armstrong cannons in the British army, the 6-pounder mountain gun or the small field gun (64 mm); A 9-pounder gun (76 mm) and a 12-pounder field gun of the horse-drawn gun. After rifling modifications, the shells of the artillery were able to hit farther and more accurately. However, the artillery of the Taiping army was also rifled, and a large part of the technology was derived from the Armstrong cannon of the British army, and this artillery battle was more like a civil war between British artillerymen. At a time when weapon technology and technology were almost identical, it was only the gunners' ability to calculate and operate that was tested. But there was a slight advantage for the Taipings, who had twelve more guns in one regiment than two artillery squadrons in the British army.

"Damn, the enemy's artillery is hiding behind a hill, they must have already calculated where we might set up artillery positions!" Grant's face turned pale, this battlefield was selected by the Taiping Army, after Major Buger retreated. The Taiping had plenty of time to observe the battlefield, while the coalition forces arrived in a hurry and went into battle. This seems a little unfair.

Soon the British artillery could not suppress the enemy's artillery, and the enemy shells became more and more numerous. And the ability to return fire on their side became weaker and weaker, and with the destruction of the two 12-pounder field guns, the British artillery hastily began to shift their positions, and they had already abandoned the bombardment of the hills.

"Now it's up to the infantry boys." Montauban hoped that the infantry would be able to crush the enemy in front of them, and then charge over to seize the hill, and then the allied cavalry could charge up and slaughter the enemy's defeated troops.

At a distance of 400 yards, the Allied soldiers began to fire their first salvo at the enemy, and more than 100 soldiers fell to the ground in the Taiping horizontal formation, most of them in a kneeling position aiming at the soldiers ready to shoot. But the soldiers of the Taiping army stood still as if they were cast iron.

Although the era of queuing for gunfire has passed, it is undeniable that the infantry line still guarantees the number of salvos fired on the old-fashioned line array, and the results are the greatest, and the shock to the enemy is also the greatest. The rifled musket made the tactics of lining up to shoot begin to reflect backwardness, so the Taiping Army canceled the tactics of standing and shooting in the second row of soldiers in the infantry drill code, and changed to the first row lying down and the second row kneeling. This will reduce at least a certain number of casualties.

The coalition forces continued to advance, and at a distance of 300 yards, the Taiping army began to return fire with the first volley, and the dense coalition soldiers fell to the ground screaming. At least 300 people were killed or injured on the spot. When Grant saw this scene, he said with a pale face: "The Taiping army has been studying how to fight with us in the field for a long time, and it seems that they let the soldiers shoot on their knees and stomachs. Standing shots are rarely used, not out of timidity. It's about better self-preservation. Montauban was silent for a long time before he said, "We can no longer use the tactics of dealing with the Qing army against the Taiping army. ”

There was some panic on the coalition front after the volley of the Taiping army, which was supposed to follow the usual tactics. After the infantry fired a salvo fire, when the enemy was in confusion, it was the best time to charge, but this time the Taiping infantry did not take advantage of the situation to charge, they turned around and quickly fled towards the hill one by one.

What's going on? The coalition soldiers and officers were surprised, but since the enemy had begun to retreat, they should move forward and charge more firmly! As a result, several columns of soldiers of the coalition army began to launch a pursuit, and the cavalry was also eager to try behind.

I have to say that the elite of the coalition troops, they can still maintain the array in general in the rapid pursuit, if the Taiping soldiers turn around and prepare to counterattack, then they can also quickly adjust the formation, and launch a salvo here to give the enemy the strongest blow.

Just when the coalition army pursued to the foot of the hill, the Taiping soldiers in front suddenly turned around and lay down, and countless Taiping soldiers suddenly appeared densely among the green grass on the hill, which made the coalition soldiers stunned.

"The camouflage uniforms of the Taiping soldiers blended naturally with their surroundings, making it difficult for us to spot them, and the front troops suddenly retreated, drawing our troops into their fire encirclement, a tactic that was often used by our British troops, and unfortunately this time we fell into the trap of the enemy......" Grant recalled in his memoirs many years later, and it was his first face-to-face battle with the Taipings, so he was very impressed.

"The enemy's tactics and organization are concise and flexible, and the command of middle and lower-ranking officers is full of artistic atmosphere, and they can always grasp the context of the course of the war in the rapidly changing situation, and in this regard, the Taiping army, the army of the yellow race, their combat tactics are far ahead of us......," General Montauban focused on summarizing the tactical aspects, and he wrote in his post-war diary with great frustration.

As combat weapons have undergone a profound technological revolution, and the innovation of rifled muskets and artillery has led to the rapid development of weapons, the range of weapons has increased, the accuracy has increased, and the rate of fire has accelerated. After Napoleon developed the corps and divisions, there was at least a long period of stagnation, if not retrogression, in terms of establishment and tactics. The use of antiquated infantry tactics in the famous Russo-Turkish War (1828-1829), a famous conflict between 1815 and 1845, is a clear example. The Russians abandoned Napoleon's tactical and strategic principle of concentrating forces, and similarly, the French and British units continued to adhere to the drills of military parades to the detriment of combat training. Until the time of the Second Opium War. The infantry phalanx and the hollow phalanx maintained their superiority in the Far East, as the Anglo-French forces were confronted by the Manchu army, which was an era behind in weapons and tactics.

Formations and tactics have been slow to adapt to changes in weapons. In large part, this is due to the fact that new weapons require a dispersed force on the battlefield, and professional soldiers fear that if the army is too dispersed, it will lose control. This is understandable. As early as when the Taiping Army carried out organizational reform and large-scale military training, Xiwang was very foresightful to let the troops adopt a more suitable establishment for future wars, and at the same time tactically retained the phalanx tactics, and researched and developed more advanced skirmish tactics.

The tactics of skirmishing require the army to have good communications and the command quality of grass-roots officers, and the special heralds and communications soldiers in the Taiping Army enable the army's communications to be able to command very well, and at the same time, the training of a large number of grass-roots backbone officers is to let them grow up in military academies and wars.

At this point, the Anglo-French forces paid the price for their conservatism, even in later history. Later than the Second Opium War, the American army was still using backward British and French tactics, and as a result, a large number of soldiers died in the firing of the phalanx, which was better than the smoothbore rifled guns. It was also after the Civil War in the United States that the Americans gradually abandoned the old backward tactics and began to use new tactics in the later period.

And the leader of the Taiping Army was a traverser, he stood on the shoulders of historical giants to look at the development of things, and naturally had an unparalleled precedence, so his foresight made the coalition forces have a passive situation at this time.

When the Taiping army in ambush on the hill opened fire on the coalition soldiers at the foot of the hill, the bloody wind and rain from the metal storm caused heavy losses to the coalition forces. Their dense horizontal formation was a very good target, and on a line a mile wide and less than 200 yards at close range, the Taipings' accurate fire nearly crushed the coalition forces under such blows.

In desperation. Grant and Montauban gave the order to retreat, and when the retreating trumpet sounded, the horn of the Taiping army attacked resounded in the blue sky. Behind the left and right wings of the hill. The cavalry regiments of the Taiping Army were the first to attack, although they did not have the perverted firepower of the Guards Cavalry Regiment. But the speed of their sabers and horses is equally deadly.

The Taiping cavalry, which rushed forward like a whirlwind, began to pursue the already chaotic infantry of the coalition army, and the coalition infantry was no longer able to effectively form a hollow phalanx capable of resisting the cavalry. A small number of brave soldiers formed several small hollow phalanxes in place. Dozens of them formed a small hollow phalanx, which was actually not considered hollow, because the soldiers were close to each other back to back, and there was not much space in the middle, and only the commander and the flag bearer of the army stood in the middle.

Several small hollow phalanxes embody the elite of the coalition soldiers, and in this case, they are still able to have the courage and discipline to arrange their formation, even if the Taiping army's saber is waved in front of them, they are still able to carry out their movements in order without the slightest panic.

However, it is a pity that they encountered the cavalry of the Taiping army, and the cavalry of the Taiping army has been prepared in studying the tactics of how the cavalry can break through the enemy's hollow phalanx. Although the legionary cavalry did not have the firepower of the Guards cavalry, they were equipped with more grenades, a tactic that was learned from the Mongol cavalry of the Manchus who charged into the enemy line with explosive packets.

So the Taiping cavalry turned their horses, and instead of rushing straight at the bayonet formations of the hollow phalanx, they swept past them and threw grenades at them at close range. Although many Taiping cavalry were shot off their horses by the coalition soldiers in the hollow phalanx, the Taiping cavalry galloped into the jackdaw like water, and there were always a few grenades falling in the dense crowd, followed by a huge explosion under the bloody rain.

Although the hollow phalanx organized by a few brave officers could not stop the Taiping cavalry, they bought some time for the large army, and the cavalry of the coalition army in the rear was dispatched, and they came forward to intercept the Taiping cavalry, this time the cavalry of the French army included the few West African cavalry of the French army in addition to the elite British cavalry...... (To be continued......)