Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 162 Airdrop to Persuade Surrender
It’s not like the Qing Dynasty had never bought arms from foreigners.

However, the business was not going well.

The foreigners either ask for too high a price or they refuse to sell this or that.

In addition, the Qing Dynasty did not know the prices of foreign arms, so when the Qing court bought foreign firearms, it not only failed to buy any good stuff, but was instead cheated several times.

I was pissing blood after being cheated by a bunch of foreign profiteers!

Because of this, Zeng Guofan was very puzzled as to where the Tang army got so many advanced firearms.

Could it be that the foreigners only wanted to harm the Qing Dynasty and not the rebel soldiers?

Luo Bingzhang, who was standing by, heard this and spoke.

"Mr. Zeng, I think the Tang bandits' firearms may not have been purchased from foreigners."

“They made it themselves!”

Hu Linyi also spoke.

"Sir, I have also heard about this. It is said that the Tang bandits have set up an arsenal in Foshan and recruited a large number of foreign and Chinese craftsmen to make guns and cannons for them..."

Given the scale of the Tang Dynasty's Foshan Arsenal, it was impossible for it to be hidden.

As long as you are willing to find out, even if you cannot know everything about the arsenal, you can still understand some of the facts.

When Zeng Guofan heard this, his expression changed and he began to think.

It’s better to make than to buy!
If you buy, others may cut off your goods at any time and refuse to sell to you.

But if I could make it myself, it wouldn't be like this.

Although everyone had different positions, Zeng Guofan felt that Li Yi's ideas were correct.

Zeng Guofan took a deep breath and asked Luo Bingzhang and Hu Linyi.

"How about we jointly write a letter to the imperial court, requesting that the imperial court also follow the example of the Tang thieves and recruit foreign craftsmen in the capital to open an arsenal to produce firearms?"

Upon hearing this, Luo Bingzhang and Hu Linyi looked at each other and saw the helplessness in each other's eyes.

Luo Bingzhang spoke.

"To reply to your Excellency, we can submit a petition to the court, but I'm afraid the court will not approve it."

"After the Opium War, some knowledgeable people in the court proposed to purchase foreign guns and cannons, and then use foreign military tactics to train soldiers to purify the Qing Dynasty's military equipment."

"Didn't this matter get shelved later?"

Our Qing Dynasty has always been more defensive against the Han people than against foreigners.

It is easy to set up an arsenal in Beijing, but who should use the firearms produced?
If not to the Han people, will they give it to a group of Eight Banners descendants who only know how to carry bird cages, fight cocks and dogs, and eat, drink, whore and gamble?

After two hundred years of wealth and glory, the Eight Banners became completely rotten from top to bottom.

The Qing Dynasty wanted to select soldiers from them and train an elite force. It was not completely impossible, but it was simply impossible to do it in a short period of time.

However, the Qing Dynasty was not very willing to provide equipment to the Han people, for fear that the Han people would threaten the Qing Dynasty's rule after mastering advanced firearms.

Therefore, Luo Bingzhang felt that even if they proposed it, the Qing court might not agree.

Upon hearing this, Zeng Guofan exhaled and then spoke.

"This time, that time."

"When the foreigners invaded, they only harassed the coast at most. To the imperial court, they were nothing more than a minor disease and posed no threat to the fundamentals."

"But now it's different. Whether it's the Tang thieves or the Taiping rebels, they are all here to overthrow the Qing Dynasty."

"It's time for the Qing Dynasty to make changes!"

"If we write a petition to build an arsenal to imitate foreign guns and cannons, the knowledgeable people in the court will certainly support us."

Zeng Guofan’s meaning was very clear.

The reason why the imperial court did not purchase foreign guns and cannons on a large scale or use foreign methods to train troops was because foreigners did not pose much of a threat to the Qing Dynasty.

In addition, the idea of ​​defending against the Han people is deeply rooted in people's minds.

Therefore, the Qing court had no motivation to carry out military reforms.

But this time it was different. Whether it was the Tang Army or the Taiping Army, they all came to kill the Qing Dynasty.

Especially the Taiping Army, who killed tens of thousands of Eight Banners soldiers in the Jingzhou Massacre and the Jiangning Massacre.

Although the Tang army did not massacre the Manchus in Guangzhou, they threw all the Eight Banners of Guangzhou into the mines in Guangxi for forced labor.

It’s not much better!
The actions of these two really scared the top leaders of the Qing Dynasty.

Especially those Eight Banners dignitaries, they now hate the Taiping Army and the Tang Army with gnashing teeth.

Otherwise, Xianfeng probably would not have agreed to Qi Junzao and others' proposal to allow local governments to organize their own militia.

More importantly, the Tang army now has mastered advanced firearms.

In other words, the Han people who opposed the Qing Dynasty had already mastered advanced firearms.

In this situation, if the Qing court continued to be secretive about advanced firearms, it would only be able to block those Han people who were still loyal to the Qing.

No one with a normal mind could do this.

Zeng Guofan believed that the emperor and other officials in the court would not be so short-sighted.

Tazib, who was lying on the sickbed and dying, also spoke.

"Master Zeng, I can also sign the petition and contact my old friends in the capital to ask them to help with the establishment of the arsenal."

Tazib fully supported the idea of ​​opening an arsenal.

Now he is still lying on the sickbed, and the gunshot wound on his body is still hurting.

No one was more impressed by the Tang army's advanced firearms than Tazib.

Zeng Guofan was obviously surprised when he heard this.

"That's the best thing."

Tazibu was born in the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Eight Banners of Manchuria. The power of his relatives and friends in Beijing was definitely not comparable to that of Han people like Zeng Guofan.

If Tazibuken helps them push this matter forward, it will definitely influence the final attitude of the Qing court.

……

Inside the Tang army camp, several hot air balloons rose up and, taking advantage of the thick night, slowly floated towards the direction of Changsha city.

When it floated over the Hunan Brave Camp outside Changsha City, piles of surrender leaflets with their straps untied were thrown out of the basket and fell towards the Hunan Brave Camp.

The leaflets persuading the surrender were blown away by the night wind in the air. Amidst the rustling sound, countless leaflets fluttered down to the ground like snowflakes...

……

That night, the moonlight was dark.

Inside Changsha City, in a private house at the foot of the city wall, Bao Pi was hugging a beautiful woman and pouring wine for himself.

A mouthful of strong liquor went down his throat and slid into his stomach like a line of fire.

Bao Xiong couldn't help but grinning. Feiyan, the top girl in Cuihonglou, quickly picked up a piece of braised meat with chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth, saying in a delicate voice.

"Sir, you drank the wine too hastily. Try this braised dish. It's the signature dish of Baixiangju in the west of the city. The servants in the building waited in line for two hours to buy it."

Bao Xiong opened his mouth and accepted the food from Miss Feiyan. He chewed it for a few times and then swallowed the spicy braised meat, suppressing the taste of alcohol in his mouth.

"Not bad, not bad! That's thoughtful."

"I'll give you more money later so you can buy more rouge, powder, hairpins and jewelry."

"Dress yourself up beautifully so that I can have more fun, hehe..." As he spoke, Bao Xiong tightened his arms around Feiyan's waist and began to grope her up and down, causing the beautiful girl to giggle.

Unlike the Hunan Brave generals who were bound by military discipline and could not do this or that.

As a commander in the Hunan Green Camp, Bao Pi was not subject to the military discipline of the Hunan Braves.

Although there was continuous fighting outside the city, Bao Pi was not too worried because the Hunan Brave Warriors were there to support them. He just enjoyed himself.

Late at night, after finishing patrolling the city, he would hug the beauty, drink wine and eat meat, and then go to sleep together later.

For a life like this, Bao Pi would not trade it even if he was offered the position of governor-general or general.

After all, the governors, governors-general and generals were all having a headache facing the invading bandits, so how could they be as happy as he was?

However, just when Bao Xiong had eaten and drunk his fill and was ready to hug the beauty to explore the mysteries of the human body together, there was a knock on the door outside the city gate tower.

dong dong dong!dong dong dong!
"Master Dusi, Master Dusi, something happened!"

Bao Xiong's interest was interrupted by the sudden knock on the door. He stood up, put on his clothes with some dissatisfaction, and strode towards the door.

The door was opened with a creaky sound, and Bao Xiong said with a dark face.

"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock!"

"What time is it and you're still bothering me?"

"Tell me, what happened? If you can't explain it, you'll have to leave the city and join the Hunan Braves in filling the trenches starting tomorrow."

As the door opened, the Green Camp soldier who knocked on the door smelled the aroma of wine, meat, and cosmetics coming from the room.

He couldn't help swallowing, but still spoke honestly.

"My Lord, something really happened."

"Just now when I was leading my team on patrol at the top of Changsha City, a lot of white paper fell from the sky."

"All of these blank papers contain letters of persuasion from the families of the Hunan warriors outside the city."

"Tang thief, Tang thief, are you trying to persuade Xiang Yong to surrender?"

Because it was too dark, the position of the Tang army's hot air balloon was not accurate when it dropped leaflets persuading the surrender.

Although most of the leaflets fell into the Hunan Army camp, some were blown into Changsha City by the wind.

When Bao Xiong heard this, his expression was obviously stunned and he no longer cared about the beauty.

He spoke hurriedly.

"Quick, show it to me."

Upon hearing this, the Green Camp leader took out a stack of leaflets, about twenty or thirty in total.

Bao Xiong snatched the flyer from his hand and started reading it.

[Wang Sihai from Maguan Village: Er Gouzi, I am writing to you to see you. I am your father. Everything is fine at home. After the Tang Dynasty’s army conquered Maguan Village, they did not make things difficult for us just because you worked so hard for Zeng. They even gave our family two buckets of rice so that your brothers and sisters could have a full meal...]

[Zhangzhuang Li Mazi: How are you these days, second brother? Everything is fine at home. The Tang Dynasty's military commander sent a military doctor to treat our parents and said that he would distribute land to us poor people. You should go home soon and stop working hard for Zeng. Go home and farm the land.]

[Carpenter Zhao from Langli City: Second Little Boy, Third Little Boy, the King's Division wants to distribute land to us poor people. Surrender and go home as soon as possible. Don't get hurt on the battlefield...]

[Muryun Niu Juren: My son, please come back soon. After the king's army captures Changsha, they will hold an imperial examination to recruit officials in Changsha. Please return home as soon as possible to prepare for the examination...]

Looking at the contents of these flyers, Bao Xiong couldn't help but take a deep breath, knowing that something bad was going to happen.

Once these letters of surrender were issued, the Hunan Army would most likely surrender.

Once all the Hunan braves surrender, how can Changsha be defended?
Do we have to rely on these green camp people?

Bao Pi still has a clear idea of ​​how capable he and his people are.

……

"Thieves, thieves, they really have evil intentions!"

"They threw so many letters into our army camp before the battle. I'm afraid the morale of our Hunan soldiers will drop to the freezing point before the battle even starts."

Outside Changsha City, in Zeng Guofan's tent, Peng Yulin spoke with gritted teeth.

In front of him, on Zeng Guofan's desk, there was a thick stack of leaflets, at least hundreds of them, all of which were letters of persuasion for surrender.

These are only the letters of surrender that have been collected. There is really no way of knowing how many letters of surrender there are that have not been collected.

Zeng Guofan's old face was frighteningly gloomy.

He didn't expect that the Tang bandits would be so despicable that they would send a letter of surrender to his Hunan Brave camp before the war broke out.

And this letter of persuasion to surrender is very targeted.

For ordinary soldiers, that means the promise of allocating land, providing food to your family, and providing medical care to your family.

As for the officers of the Hunan Brave Army, he promised to hold another imperial examination in Hunan and recruit Hunan scholars to serve as officials.

As a result, the morale of the Hunan Army would be shaken at best.

Who knows, someone might be bewitched by evil spirits and abandon darkness for light... Pah, pah, pah, abandon light for darkness, or even join the thieves...

Although most of the soldiers are illiterate and may not be able to understand the letter of surrender.

However, the officers of the Hunan Brave were all sons of gentry.

But they will definitely be able to understand the letter of persuasion to surrender.

As soon as they saw the letter of surrender, they realized that their families had fallen into the hands of the Tang bandits.

In addition, the Tang thieves promised to hold an imperial examination in Hunan to recruit scholars and give them official positions.

Zeng Guofan really didn't think that these young men from Hunan would refuse the official positions offered to them for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, and even sacrifice their entire families.

Luo Bingzhang took a deep breath and spoke with a serious expression.

"Sir, since it is night time now and most of the soldiers are resting, not many people should have read these treasonous letters. Search the camp again."

"Try to collect all the surrender letters sent by the bandits to minimize the impact."

Zeng Guofan heard this and nodded at him.

"That's all it can do."

After he finished speaking, he called his younger brother Zeng Guobao and ordered him to take people to search the military camp again.

Try to collect all the letters of persuasion to surrender!
Zeng Guobao left with a fist salute, but soon he came back.

"Sir, something big happened!"

"The camp is in chaos!"

"Some people have already started to flee our army camp in groups and surrender to the bandits. There are even officers who took their entire troops out of the camp to surrender during the chaos..."

Zeng Guofan became a little uneasy when he heard this.

He stood up from his seat and strode out of the military tent.

When they opened the tent curtain and came outside, they saw that the two Hunan Army camps in Changsha and outside the city were in chaos.

There were flames everywhere and the sound of commotion could be heard faintly.

Hunan soldiers holding torches could be seen everywhere walking in groups out of the camp, preparing to surrender to the Tang army.

When Zeng Guofan saw this, a look of despair appeared on his face, and his body almost collapsed.

"It's over, it's over!"

"The Xiangyong is finished, Changsha is finished, and I... am finished too!"

(End of this chapter)