There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 49 War is rising everywhere
The end of November in the sixtieth year of Qianlong's reign.

The Han army broke through Jingzhou, and the Jingzhou prefect was defeated and died in the city. The entire city of Jingzhou was massacred by Han soldiers. Hubei Governor Hui Ling and Jingzhou Mancheng Right Deputy Commander Cheng De managed to break through and fled all the way along the Yangtze River to Wuchang Prefecture.

This was an impeachment memorial jointly compiled by Huiling and Chengde, and it also included impeachment letters signed by the Manchus they had taken away.

Who to impeach?
Naturally, they impeached the Governor of Huguang, Bi Yuan. It was all because of Bi Yuan's self-righteousness that he transferred all the elite troops in Hubei, leaving Hubei's defense empty, which gave the White Lotus rebels hiding in various prefectures in Hubei an opportunity to take advantage.

Moreover, the Governor of Huguang, Bi Yuan, led the armies of the two provinces to fight against the Miao in Hunan for almost a year, but not only was the Miao rebellion not suppressed, but it showed signs of getting worse.

Isn't it because the Huguang Governor Bi Yuan was ineffective in suppressing the bandits, or that he was deliberately nurturing the bandits for his own benefit? Such an incompetent governor with ulterior motives should be immediately dismissed from his post and taken to the capital to await trial.

Huiling and Chengde spread the blame for the loss of Jingzhou City fivefold and put it all on the Governor of Huguang, Bi Yuan. They also mentioned Jingzhou General Xing Zhao in passing, and then spent a lot of time and effort to ask Jingzhou Prefect Cui Longjian for posthumous honors.

Such a Spring and Autumn style of writing, especially the fact that he and his companions had escaped by chance and rescued many families of the Manchu Eight Banners, not only did he not mention it at all, but he also wrote very little about it, which just corresponded to the signatures of the Manchu families.

When these were sent to the capital, what appeared to Emperor Qianlong were two loyal and capable generals of the Eight Banners who were in Hubei and devoted to the Qing Dynasty. Later, due to lack of soldiers, they were powerless to turn the tide and could only fight bloody battles, barely saving some of the Eight Banners Manchus in the city. Huiling, a civil servant, was even seriously injured.

Such a loyal and good man naturally cannot be punished anymore. Instead, he should be greatly rewarded. Even the Jingzhou prefect who died in the city should be posthumously honored to encourage other Han officials. As long as they can fight to the death for the Qing Dynasty, they will have no worries even if they die.

There are rewards for both, so who should be punished or who should take the blame?

The answer is already obvious.

……

Early December, the sixtieth year of Qianlong's reign.

The Han army officially moved from Yidu County to Jingzhou Prefecture. With Jingzhou Prefecture as the center, one prefecture, three counties and a large number of towns and villages along the river to the west fell into the hands of the Han army.

Officials from the other three counties under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou, Jianli, Gong'an and Shishou, were all shocked when they learned that Jingzhou City had been captured, the prefect had died in the city, and the governor had broken out and fled east to Wuchang.

There were no soldiers available in Jingzhou City, so naturally there were no soldiers available to fight in these three counties. Moreover, they could not recruit soldiers like Yichang and Jingzhou.

Because the Qing Dynasty was the most feudal dynasty in history, local officials did not have the power to recruit soldiers. Including the governor-general and provincial governors, they only had the power to recruit soldiers under specific circumstances. For example, if there was a rebellion in the local area, the governor-general and provincial governors could recruit soldiers to quell the rebellion.

This was the case in Jingzhou and Yichang. As governor, Huiling granted them the power to recruit soldiers. However, Huiling's power to recruit soldiers came from the Miao Rebellion in Hunan, which was a specific situation.

But this is not the case for these three counties. Even the highest county magistrates do not have the power to recruit soldiers unless the governor or the governor comes to give them orders.

Otherwise, how dare you recruit soldiers privately without the order of the governor? Are you planning to rebel?
There is a saying that goes, during the Qing Dynasty, they were more wary of the Han people than foreigners!
Let me tell you something more infuriating. Before the Qing Dynasty, the Lantern Festival was also called the Lantern Festival. People would light lanterns and have fun all night long for ten consecutive days, which meant ten days of holidays. The curfew would also be lifted during these ten days, and the emperor would also have fun with the people.

During the Zhengde period in the mid-Ming Dynasty, the imperial palace was even burned by lanterns once. While Zhengde organized firefighting, he watched the palace burn from a distance, trying to find joy in the midst of suffering.

Why is the Lantern Festival now only one day? Because after the Qing Dynasty came to power in the Central Plains, they were afraid that the people would gather together to rebel. So this is a ten-day holiday, and the curfew has been lifted. What if someone incites anti-Qing and restoration of the Ming Dynasty?
Then shorten the holiday to one day and then restore the curfew, then we can finally feel relieved.

Officials in Jianli, Gong'an and Shishou counties were unable to recruit soldiers, nor did they dare to do so. They could only block the city gates and urgently send letters to Changde and Wuchang prefectures to ask for help from their two immediate superiors, the governor and the provincial governor.

These three counties are relatively good, at least there is only the Han army, a group of "rebels" in Jingzhou Prefecture.

The neighboring Yichang Prefecture to the west, the Jingmen Prefecture in the north of Jingzhou, the Xiangyang and Yunyang Prefectures further north, and even the Shinan Prefecture in southwestern Hubei, which was connected to Sichuan, were all destroyed.

First, Zhang Zhengmo, a member of the Changyang White Lotus Sect in Yichang Prefecture, defeated the Yichang general and wiped out the Qing army in Yichang Prefecture. Then he named himself the Grand Marshal of the Tianyun Army, quickly went south to join the White Lotus Sect in Changle County, and defeated Changle County Magistrate Yang Shirui, Dianshi Zhu Zhenlin, Qianzong Zhu Huai, Guerrilla Zhang Shun and others.

The White Lotus Sect in Yichang grew rapidly, expanding to more than 30,000 people within a few months, and even triggered an explosion in Hefeng Prefecture, which was short of troops.

The local Miao people and natives in Hefeng had already suffered from discriminatory treatment by the Qing government, and some even deliberately instigated rebellion. Now that the Hefeng Camp was gone, the Hefeng state government had no troops to mobilize, and it became a complete empty shell.

As a result, the Miao and native people of Hefeng joined forces with the oppressed Han people in the area and openly gathered to rebel against the Qing Dynasty. The governor of Hefeng was killed.

The Hefeng rebel army did not join forces with the White Lotus Sect. The two fled to the south and the north respectively. Zhang Zhengmo fled to the north, and the Hefeng army fled to the south.

Like a swarm of locusts, wherever they passed, landlords and wealthy families were slaughtered and all their money and food were looted.

The riots in Yichang and Jingzhou prefectures also made the officials of various prefectures in Hubei quickly alert. The White Lotus Sect, which had originally planned to rebel against the Qing Dynasty as planned in March of the next year, was forced to launch the uprising ahead of schedule.

First, the White Lotus Sect in Laifeng County, Shinan Prefecture, gathered together to rebel against the Qing Dynasty, but because the county government was prepared, they failed to successfully capture the city and the county, and could only flee into the mountains.

Immediately afterwards, Huang Ren, the magistrate of Dangyang County in Jingmen Prefecture, heard the news from Jingzhou. In panic, he searched the entire county for members of the White Lotus Sect and actually caught a member named Liu Xiushi. The playboy Zhu Guangdian, who had already converted to the sect, and the yamen runner Xi Yunfeng had no choice but to quickly launch an uprising and attack Dangyang County.

"On the night of the 15th, the city's inhabitants fled toward the north gate, and the rebels seized the opportunity to reach the gate... County officials Lei Qiming and Zhang Zhiting told the instructors: 'We'll let you into the city, but you can't kill anyone!' So the rebels entered the city, went straight to the county office, released the arrested martial arts instructor Liu Xiushi, and arrested Huang Ren..."

Peng Yanqing, who luckily survived, is living in a private house in Dangyang and writing down his personal experiences of the past few days.

He was a classmate of the county magistrate Huang Ren. He was demoted to Dangyang County for committing a crime. After that, he often went in and out of the county government office, so he was quite familiar with the rebel Xi Yunfeng, which is why he was spared.

Peng Yanqing put down his brush and looked out the window with a worried look on his face. There was a white flag hanging in front of the door, representing that the people here were members of the White Lotus Sect.

The White Lotus Sect didn't release him, a criminal Qing official, for nothing. He had to go to the government office and serve as a legal advisor for the White Lotus Sect. He didn't have to give advice, but he had to help organize books and files.

He closed the book under his pen, and saw five sloppy characters written on it: "Record of Refuge in Dangyang".

(End of this chapter)