There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 110 A dead Taoist friend is not dead but a poor Taoist

Who is Zuo Guanlan?
If you put him in the history textbook, I am afraid most people would not recognize him, but when talking about his son, they have to respectfully call him "Zuo Gong Qiangu"!
He ignored all objections, took command of the coffin and recovered Xinjiang.

With these achievements in mind, even if the other party actually worked for the Qing Dynasty, Nie Yu still had to respect him and take the other party's father under his wing.

The Qing Dynasty really doesn't deserve such talents!

Taking over Changsha was of great strategic significance, because Changsha was connected to the Xiangjiang River. As long as Changsha was broken, the Han army could go south along the river and directly attack Hengzhou, Guiyang and Yongzhou.

There is no need to say much about Hengzhou. Wu Sangui proclaimed himself emperor here, and the ruins of his palace can still be seen today.

Guiyang doesn’t have that much political significance, but it produces silver!
Even after the founding of the People's Republic of China, a large amount of slag with extremely high silver content and silver mining areas that were not mined cleanly were discovered here. It should be said that the entire Hunan Province was an extremely important silver-producing province during the Qing Dynasty.

If you have a silver mine, you can't just take it, you have to take it.

……

The Han army acted quickly, captured the Changsha city, and immediately divided its troops into three groups.

Chen Younian swept eastward to Liuyang and Liling counties.

He Shunan went west to capture Ningxiang and Yiyang. Anhua County was also west of Changsha, but it was too far away and blocked by mountains, making it impossible for the Han army to reach it.

Nie Yu personally led the main force, sailed down the river, and directly attacked Hengzhou Prefecture.

Wherever he went, the gentry in the towns and villages surrendered to him. Nie Yu took advantage of the situation and gave the scholars from the academy who had previously served him the task of surveying and dividing the land, freeing the slaves, and registering the households.

Respecting the virtuous and humble is one thing, but if you want to be an official you must start from the grassroots level.

This is the rule of the Han army and also the foundation of Nie Yu's foothold.

If Luo Dian had not been the principal for more than ten years and had not possessed considerable talent in scholarship (he advocated practical application of knowledge and did not like students to just study rotely), Nie Yu would have planned to let the old gentleman work at the grassroots level first.

The Han army's large ships arrived at Xiangtan. The Xiangtan County Magistrate was very powerful. During the day, he said that he would rather die than surrender, but at night he sneaked away with the silver.

The gentry of Xiangtan County had no choice but to open the city and surrender.

The situation in Xiangxiang County, west of Lianshui, was similar. The only difference was that the county magistrate did not run away or commit suicide. He led the Xiangxiang gentry to surrender without even making a gesture.

If I don't surrender or run away, will I be martyred for my country?

It is now the first year of the Jiaqing reign. There are still local officials who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the country, but there are definitely not that many.

Well, speaking of which, Zeng Guofan’s grandfather Zeng Yuping was also a member of the Xiangxiang gentry who knelt down and surrendered.

This is really not Nie Yu's collecting hobby, but two famous historical figures, Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang. They are both from Hunan and their hometown is Changsha.

Zuo Zongtang was from Xiangyin and Zeng Guofan was from Xiangxiang. They were actually from the same hometown, and Li Hongzhang was Zeng Guofan's student.

With the escape and surrender of Xiangtan and Xiangxiang, most of Changsha Prefecture, except for the remote Anhua County, came under the control of the Han Army. The pressure on Yuezhou Prefecture's somewhat bloated official system was instantly relieved.

It just so happened that there were too many officials in Yuezhou and the system was saturated. Grassroots officials had missed the opportunity and it was difficult for them to be promoted even if they had made contributions. So they were all packed up and sent to Changsha.

After arriving in Changsha and working for two months and bringing out new people, he was immediately promoted as an exception, and his promotion was like riding a rocket.

All the Han army officers and officials in Yuezhou are eager to have it!
……

Changde Prefecture City.

Bai Nan and Xu Sanlang received news through the radio that Changsha City had been conquered by the general, and that the general had also conquered the students of Yuelu Academy, the first academy in Hunan and a place where cultural heritage converges.

Xu Sanlang had never been to school, but he could still tell that Yuelu Academy was impressive just by looking at its name.

What's so awesome about it?
Xu Sanlang didn't know, but Bai Nan had a vague guess, or perhaps he felt the same way.

Although Bai Nan is a military general now, he has been a scholar for the past twenty years. He just prefers to wield swords and guns besides studying. He barely passed the examination to become a student, but was stuck at the level of a scholar.

Why did the general insist on conquering Yuelu Academy and perform a political drama of "harmony between the monarch and his subjects"?

It is obvious that the real purpose is not to drink!
The Han army's core base was not the landlords, but that did not mean they could completely eliminate the landlords. Even the previous new tax law was aimed at large landlords and gentry, not the middle and lower landlord classes.

Otherwise, Nie Yu would find it difficult to push down his government orders, because those grassroots officials and scholars, strictly speaking, are all landlords.

If you are not a landlord, how can you have enough food to study?
Unite all forces that can be united. The big landlords need to be overthrown, the middle landlords can be intimidated, the small landlords need to be appeased, and the self-cultivating farmers and tenants are the basic base.

But Bai Nan didn't care about these, because the general not only informed them through the radio that Changsha City had been captured, but also told them that they could let go and try to attack Changde City.

"General, General, something terrible is happening! It seems the rebels are preparing to attack the city!"

"what?"

Xing Zhao was stunned for a moment, not because of fear, but because of great surprise.

There was a standoff in the previous few days, and Xing Zhao even saw the Han army's intention. It was nothing more than a feint to the east and attack in the west, and they might be going to attack Changsha.

Xing Zhao had no other choice as he did not have enough troops. He tried night attacks and surprise attacks, but when he saw the Han army's formation, he ran back in disgrace.

The only thing he could do was to defend Changde Prefecture City to the death, while sending out messengers for help, trying to break out and report the news. Even if he couldn't break out, the longer the siege lasted, the sooner or later Chenzhou would get the news.

Now, the Han army is about to attack the city. Could something have happened?
Xing Zhao didn't have time to think about it. After the initial surprise, he quickly made arrangements: "Pass on my military order, let the soldiers immediately guard the city, collect as much gold juice, kerosene, rolling logs, fallen rocks and other items, and recruit civilians to go up to the city to help defend the city." After the military order was issued, the city of Changde Prefecture started to operate at high speed. Even the few city defense artillery batteries were hurriedly equipped with several Qing gunners.

Soon, Xing Zhao himself put on armor and carried a sword, and went up to the city wall to observe the enemy. He was surrounded by a group of officials from Changde Prefecture, including the prefect Hu Wenquan.

In fact, Hu Wenquan and other civil servants did not want to come up, but Xing Zhao held his sword and invited them up with a smile, saying that it was to boost the morale of the army. The soldiers were risking their lives to kill the enemy in the front, so how could the generals hide away and enjoy themselves in the back?

Outside the city, the Han army had already formed its battle array, but was not in a hurry to attack the city.

"Bring it here!" Bai Nan waved his hand.

Two Han soldiers came over to escort the lame Fu Zhina.

Fu Zhina had been imprisoned for a long time. He became lame because he was caught by local militia while fleeing after his defeat and was stabbed with a sheep fork.

Of course, he was very lucky. If the Han army had not had antibiotics and given him timely treatment, even if he did not die, he would have had to undergo high amputation.

"If you go to the city now to persuade them to surrender, I can spare your life!" said Bai Nan.

Fu Zhina sneered: "Let me persuade them to surrender. I am the general of the Qing Dynasty and a close general of Marshal Fu Beile Fu. How dare you, a traitor..."

Before he could finish his words, Wu Liehu behind him kicked him and knocked him over, cursing.

"Damn it, you bastard, I'll teach you a lesson!"

Wu Liehu went up and started punching and kicking Fu Zhi with very sophisticated boxing skills. Fu Zhi couldn't fight back and kept screaming. The arrogance in his eyes disappeared and was replaced by deep fear.

Because he was captured by Wu Liehu and his militia, the Han soldiers took the opportunity to promote Wu Liehu into the army, gave him the rank of captain, and asked them to guard Fu Zhina on a daily basis, give him some profound education, and grind out the evil nature of this Qing dog general.

This is not unfair reward and punishment. It is true that Wu Liehu captured the general of the Qing army, but he only captured the general who escaped from the Han army. If his merit is really calculated based on beheading the general, what will the other generals think?
For example, you are in the front taking damage and fighting in a team, and there is a dog behind you who is trying to steal the kills. Do you still have to eat the bounty?
After a beating, Fu Zhina became obedient.

There is great terror between life and death. He was caught while escaping and almost died from serious injuries. Fortunately, with his strong will to survive and the Han army doctors trying their best to treat him and using antibiotics, he was saved.

It would be fine if I died, but now that I am alive, I naturally have to cherish my life more.

"Fukangan is dead." Bai Nan said lightly.

"Huh? What?" Fu Zhi was stunned and didn't hear clearly.

Bai Nan said, "Fukang'an died just last month, and Changsha has been captured by our general. The Qing army in western Hunan should have run out of food by now."

These few short sentences shocked Toshina so much that he couldn't control himself.

Marshal Fu is dead. How could Marshal Fu die?

Without waiting for Fu Zhi to figure out his obsession, Bai Nan sneered, "Fu Kang'an is dead, and the Qing army in western Hunan has run out of food. I know what you're thinking. You're just waiting for Fu Kang'an to head north. By then, our Han army will surely be unable to hold out for long."

"You're right. If Fukang'an were still alive, we might have been wary. But now that he's dead, the Qing army in western Hunan is no longer a concern. In other words, your backer has fallen. How can you absolve yourself of the guilt of being captured and annihilated by the rebels?"

Murder and kill!
These words were not thought up by Bai Nan, but were taught to him by the civil servants before the troops were dispatched.

The hearts of scholars are very dirty. Aren’t they just trying to sow discord and take advantage of people’s weaknesses?

The reason why Fu Zhina did not commit suicide and even claimed that he was a close general of Marshal Fu was that he had a backer, and as long as the backer did not fall, even if he made a big mistake, he could still survive under the protection of the backer.

It’s not that Fukangan was taken advantage of, but it was a necessary means for him to win over the military generals as the commander-in-chief of the three armies.

The reason why Yuan Shikai was able to gradually turn the six Beiyang armies into his own private army was that he was very good at winning people's hearts. He would demote the soldiers and generals who made mistakes according to the orders of the Qing court, and then secretly give them money to appease them. After a few days, he would promote them and transfer them to other armies.

After a while, everyone praised Marshal Yuan’s benevolence and righteousness!
Fu Zhina thought of more. With the death of Marshal Fu, not only did he lose his backer, but he also gained an enemy.

Because Deputy Marshal He (Lin) and Marshal Fu have always been at odds with each other, and now Marshal Fu is dead, as Marshal Fu's personal general, will the other party let me go?
He is a bannerman, and the other party is also a bannerman, with a higher military rank than him, and there is also such a high-ranking person as He Zhongtang in the court.

Fu Zhina thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "If I succeed in persuading you to surrender, are you really willing to let me go?"

Bai Nan smiled slightly strangely: "If you can really persuade him to surrender successfully, we can not only let you go, but also cooperate with you to put on a good show."

"Act well?" Fu Zhi was stunned, not quite understanding what he meant.

In a moment.

Fu Zhina suddenly burst into a rage, "These two bastards, they all deceived the emperor and colluded with the rebels. They all deserve to be exterminated!"

It's no wonder he was so indignant, because Bai Nan verbally repeated to Fu Zhina the operation that Feng Xiuyong had used in Jingzhou City.

In particular, it emphasizes that Huiling and Chengde sold the entire city in exchange for their own lives and peace and security.

If Huiling and Chengde had not lied about military intelligence, Fu Zhina felt that he would never be so careless and underestimate the enemy. Instead, he was completely defeated by the Han army and even captured.

Bai Nan didn't give Fu Zhina time to continue venting, he just grinned and said, "Are you going to do it or not?"

"...I will do it! But I want you to kill Xing Zhao. He is from the Aixinjueluo clan and cannot be left alive!"

"Haha, yes!"

(Ten thousand more, burned out!)

(End of this chapter)