The three powerful attacks of the Qing army caused heavy casualties in the Taiping Army, which can be said to be the largest casualties since Luo Ding established the camp....,

Before the war, the Zhenlu Battalion, which had the most soldiers, had 465 people in the entire battalion, and only 178 people remained after the war; before the war, Xiongwei Battalion was the head of the five major battalions with the least soldiers, with only 390 people, and now only 160 people remained; the Shanzhen Camp, composed of Laofengzhuang Tongminers, had 410 people before the war, and now only 0 people remained; the Hujie Battalion's reduction rate has reached 60%, and now there are only 140 people, including officers.

Although the Guard Battalion is the head of the most corpses, since the reorganization of Guifeng Mountain, the guard battalion has not been fully equipped. In the attack on Xinhui and subsequent city defenses, Zhou Shixiang successively drew troops from the Guard Battalion to supplement the Zhengu and the powerful, resulting in the actual soldiers of the Guard Battalion being the least of the five major battalions, and now only 108 people remain. Such a tragic casualties have caused the five major battalions to be killed in name only, and the total number of troops of the five major battalions is less than a thousand.

Compared with the death rate of soldiers, the death rate of officers was higher. Before the war, a total of 35 officers were organized at the small flag of each battalion, and the total number of officers in the fifth battalion was 175. Now, the number of officers in the entire Taiping Army, together with Zhou Shixiang, the number of officers in the thousand households was only 48.

The five major camps suffered casualties, and more than half of the security group was transferred to the rear camp. After the Qing army retreated again, Duke Xiang of Song asked Zhao Sihai to specialize in counting. In addition to the original Gongtou Army, those who were slightly injured and able to fight, the entire security group had less than 400 people.

After the Taiping Army invaded Xinhui, Liao Ruixiang, who was ordered to be the temporary magistrate of Xinhui, was organized with the assistance of the Taiping Army to unite the young and strong people among the residents in the city to be responsible for material transportation and order in the city. These young and strong people were also forced to go to the top of the city at the critical moment of the war. Fortunately, Zhou Shixiang did not expect these young and strong people to serve as soldiers and fight with the Qing army, so they mostly asked them to do some auxiliary work on the city. Although there were certain casualties, there were also many young and strong men who survived.

Although these young and strong men were not really used as war soldiers, they had been guarding the city for a few days and saw a lot of blood and corpses. Some brave young and strong men even fought with the Qing soldiers who climbed the city. Therefore, for the Taiping Army, which had more than half of the casualties, they were all urgently needed soldiers from each battalion.

There is no need to mobilize more. More than 300 young and strong people who survived voluntarily joined the Taiping Army, and were robbed by all battalions. Even the yamen runners who were placed in the yamen as the storefront were recruited by the battalions. The young and strong men and strong men who joined the Taiping Army knew that when the war reached this point, so many people died in the Qing army outside the city. If the city was destroyed, no one in the city could survive by chance. Therefore, whether for their own lives or for their family's lives, they had to go up to the city with their heads and fight to the Qing army desperately.

After the Taiping Army captured hundreds of Qing troops one after another. Except for some officers of the Han flags, the rest were left to serve as hard labor for repairing the city walls. Under the scorching sun and the Taiping Army's urge to work, half of the prisoners died of exhaustion on the city wall construction site. After the Qing army approached Xinhui, the remaining prisoners, except for the Han flag soldiers who were good at artillery, were ordered to go up to the city to fire the artillery, the remaining part continued to serve as auxiliary soldiers and hard labor, and the other part was added to the battalions. In the subsequent Qing army's siege battle, these prisoners also suffered certain casualties. Now more than 400 people are alive, half of them are Chaozhou soldiers.

There were originally 500 Chaozhou soldiers. Last year, when Li Dingguo approached Xinhui, because the defenders were short of troops, Shang Kexi transferred troops from various prefectures and counties, including Chaozhou soldiers. After the Taiping Army occupied Xinhui, the leader Qian Zong died in battle. These Chaozhou soldiers were unmanned and the city was broken, so they surrendered with other Qing soldiers.

Because Zhou Shixiang had always wanted to build a plan to belong to the Taiping Army Navy, these waters were of good nature. Many Chaozhou soldiers who were originally served in the Navy were deliberately retained, intending to build a Taiping Army Navy team based on these Chaozhou soldiers in the future. Zhou Shixiang, who worked hard in the early days to repair the city, specially ordered the Chaozhou soldiers to work less, so that they were not exhausted as much as other Green Camp soldiers, resulting in these Chaozhou soldiers being envied by other Qing soldiers. After the Qing army captured the city, no matter what Zhou Shixiang planned in the future, these Chaozhou soldiers were also thrown to the top of the city when there were extremely shortage of soldiers to defend the city. After repeated desperate battles, there are more than 200 Chaozhou soldiers who are captive.

Like the security guards, the yamen runners, and the young and strong, the surviving Qing army prisoners were also unified into the battle camp. After several pieces, the Zhenhu, the powerful and the Hujie third battalions were once again fully regained their full capacity, and the trapped camp restored 400 soldiers and 300 soldiers in the guard camp.

Because of the large number of officers were killed, new officers were selected from the soldiers guarding the city. Even some brave young and strong men were awarded small flag officers. The Han flag soldiers who could control artillery among the prisoners were individually organized into a general flag, and the prisoners were elected themselves under the general flag. In order to strengthen the loyalty and control of these prisoners, Zhou Shixiang also deliberately ordered the green camp prisoners to mix with the Han flag.

Almost all the male soldiers in the entire Xinhui City were taken to reorganize the Taiping Army into 2,500 again, but the price was the young and strong male soldiers in the city who could not be supplemented. If the Qing army still attacked with great difficulty regardless of casualties and costs like the previous three times, it would be a matter of time before the city was destroyed.

What a army trapped in the lonely city fears the most is not how strong the enemy is, but that it has no supplements.

Previously, when the Taiping Army headed south to Xiangshan, in order to facilitate the transfer and settlement of the elderly, weak, women and children, Song Xianggong once selected a group of stronger women as security team members. Later, after the Taiping Army occupied Xinhui, these female security team members were quickly laid off due to their habitual contempt of women. After the Qing army attacked for the second time, Song Xianggong took the idea of ​​mobilizing all men to defend the city to slap criticism from the old battalion, and once again selected 500 healthy women as auxiliary soldiers. Because the use of these female soldiers allowed the Taiping Army's manpower to be more effectively engaged in the front-line confrontation between the city and the Qing army, Zhou Shixiang officially agreed to set up a female battalion after the war. Of course, there are no males in the rear battalion security team now, and it is these female soldiers who are carrying the mission of the security team.

The food in the city can barely last for half a month, and the salt, vegetable oil and other materials are almost used up. They can be used for the wood guarding the city, and there is not much lime left. The women's camp can only transport the scattered bricks in the city with baskets for use.
Chapter completed!