Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 221 The Flame in People’s Hearts
Zhang Lexing heard this and began to think.

Anhui Recruiting Envoy?
From this perspective, the next step for the Tang Dynasty is most likely to send troops to Anhui.

Otherwise, it would not be an easy task for a figurehead Anhui Recruiting Envoy to recruit the Nian Army.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Lexing spoke.

"Master Chen, please follow me. The flag owners have been waiting for a long time in Zhiheji."

Chen Chengrong nodded, rode his horse to catch up with Zhang Lexing and others, and a group of people rode towards Zhiheji.

On the way, Chen Chengrong talked with Zhang Lexing.

"I don't know your name, brother? How should I address you?"

Zhang Lexing said with a smile.

"I don't deserve to be your brother. My last name is Zhang, and I am the third child in my family. Sir Chen, you can just call me Zhang San."

Chen Chengrong laughed out loud.

"Hahaha, it turns out to be Brother Zhang San."

"I wonder what your brother thinks of the upcoming world events?"

Zhang Lexing did not hide anything and just expressed his thoughts.

"The Heavenly Kingdom has fallen, and the Qing evil is about to make a comeback. Among all the anti-Qing forces in the world, the only one that can take the lead is the Tang Dynasty."

"Although we are numerous and powerful, we have no unified command. I am afraid we cannot accomplish anything on our own."

"It is a blessing for our Nian Army and the world that Lord Chen can come here to recruit us on behalf of the Tang Dynasty."

It’s not that Zhang Lexing has no ambition, but he is able to face the reality.

Although the Nian Army seemed to be very powerful and spread across several provinces, its scale was not inferior to that of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

However, the Nian Army was organized on the basis of clan power, with each clan being subordinate to the other and unable to form a joint force.

And this also determines that the upper limit of the Nian Army will not be too high!
Now the Qing army's main focus is not on the Nian Army. The Nian Army can still run rampant thanks to its large number of cavalry and high mobility.

However, once the Qing army focused its attention on the Nian Army and sent a large army to encircle and intercept it, it would be easy to defeat it one by one if the Nian Army could not form a joint force.

Therefore, Zhang Lexing urgently needed to hold on to a big thigh and use the thigh's momentum to confirm his leadership position in the Nian Army and thereby integrate the power of the Nian people.

Then, he will have the opportunity to realize his ambition!
This is exactly what Zhang Lexing did in history.

However, in history, the pillar he chose was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

In history, it was only after Zhang Lexing accepted the title from Hong Xiuquan that he became the leader of all the flags of the Nian Army.

However, even so, his control over the Nian Army was still quite limited, and the only troops he could truly command were his own Yellow Flag troops.

It is difficult for him to mobilize the other flags!
This is also the reason why the Nian Army was soon destroyed after the Taiping Army was defeated.

But now that the Heavenly Kingdom has completely fallen, Zhang Lexing can only choose the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhang Lexing attached great importance to the Anhui appeasement envoy sent by the Tang Dynasty.

They even hide their identities and come to greet you in person.

Chen Chengrong smiled and then pointed out.

"Brother Zhang San should not be an ordinary personal soldier, right?"

"Ordinary personal soldiers wouldn't understand these things."

After listening to Zhang Lexing's opinion, and considering that Zhang Lexing had previously claimed to be the third child in the family, Chen Chengyong suddenly had an idea and began to doubt Zhang Lexing's identity.

As far as he knew, Zhang Lexing, one of the leaders of the Nian Army, was ranked third.

This man claimed to be Zhang Lexing's personal soldier, and ranked third in the line. With such knowledge, he must be Zhang Lexing himself.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lexing knew that he had been found out, so he stopped hiding it and said with a fist salute.

"Haha, since Lord Chen has seen through it, I won't hide it anymore."

"Let me introduce myself again. I am Zhang Lexing, the leader of the Yellow Banner of the Nian Army. Nice to meet you, Lord Chen."

Although the Nian Army has not yet formally established the Five-Flag System, Zhang Lexing had already raised the yellow flag when the uprising gathered in Shibapu last year.

Chen Chengrong returned the greeting.

"Chen Chengrong, the Tang Dynasty's Anhui Recruiting Envoy, meets with Banner Master Zhang."

The two looked at each other and laughed.

"Thank you, Banner Master Zhang, for coming out to greet us personally."

Chen Chengrong spoke politely.

"Mr. Chen is too polite. The Tang Dynasty sent you all the way here to recruit us Nian rebels. How can we neglect you, Mr. Chen?"

"Master Chen, please follow me. The brothers have already set up a banquet at Zhiheji and are waiting for Master Chen to take his seat."

Zhang Lexing greeted him very warmly.

As he spoke, he took Chen Chengrong and others to Zhiheji.

After arriving at Zhiheji, the headquarters of the Nian Army, Chen Chengrong was warmly welcomed.

Gong Deshu, Su Tianfu, Feng Jinbiao, Zhang Fengshan and other Nian Army flag commanders came out of the camp to welcome them.

They even pulled out their troops, arranged them in different formations according to different flags, and led their cavalry to gallop across the fields to demonstrate their military might.

These Nian Army generals showed great respect to Chen Chengrong, the Tang Dynasty's Anhui Recruiting Envoy.

The reason for this "show of power" was not actually to give Chen Chengrong a "show of power".

Since they accepted Chen Chengrong to come to their lair, it means that they are ready to be recruited by the Tang Dynasty.

The reason for doing this is simply to sell these brothers under his command for a good price.

At the banquet, Chen Chengrong raised his glass and said.

"Before I came to Anhui, I had heard countless times that the Nian Army brothers were all heroes, running rampant, killing bandits and breaking cities, and making the Qing demons tremble with fear." "Now that I see it, the Nian Army brothers are indeed worthy of their reputation."

"The military might is truly magnificent!"

Faced with the "show of force" from the generals of the Nian Army, Chen Chengrong was not annoyed. He decisively chose to accept the challenge and then gave them a counterattack.

The purpose of his coming to Anhui this time was to pacify the Nian Army and pave the way for Li Yi to personally lead an expedition to the south of the Yangtze River.

As long as the purpose of appeasement can be achieved, everything else is trivial.

Since the Nian Army wanted to show off their strength in front of him, he would just support them.

Upon seeing this, the generals of the Nian Army clasped their fists and said.

"Master Chen, you are too kind!"

Seeing this, Chen Chengrong stopped beating around the bush and got straight to the point.

"Everyone, today I am leading a team to Zhiheji."

"I came here on the king's orders to recruit you brothers to join the Tang Dynasty and conspire to fight against the Qing Dynasty."

"As long as you brothers are willing to lead your troops to serve the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court will not be stingy in providing high positions, generous salaries, titles for wives and children."

"What do you brothers think?"

After Chen Chengrong finished speaking, Gong Deshu, the second-in-command of the Nian Army, asked.

"Sir Chen, to be honest, although my brothers and I are willing to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, we are used to living a free life and I am afraid we cannot bear the constraints of military law."

Gong Deshu was now setting conditions.

On the surface, he was saying that his subordinates could not be bound by military law, but in reality what he wanted was that the Tang Dynasty could not interfere with the military power of his troops.

The reason why these people chose to accept the recruitment of the Tang Dynasty was because of the reputation given by the Tang Dynasty, not because they really wanted to be Li Yi's loyal dogs.

In troubled times, there is a flame of ambition burning in everyone's heart. Unless others are defeated, few people are willing to be under them.

Su Tianfu, Feng Jinbiao, Zhang Fengshan and others also expressed their opinions.

"Yes, Master Chen, we are used to being at ease."

"Master Chen, the military law of the Tang Dynasty is too strict. I am afraid that the brothers below will be dissatisfied."

"..."

When Chen Chengrong saw this, he knew that the Nian Army was making demands on him.

You can accept the recruitment, but the Tang Dynasty should not even think about actually controlling their team.

Chen Chengrong still said with a smile on his face.

"Okay, okay. As long as we can fight against the Qing together, these details can be discussed."

"Since the brothers of the Nian Army cannot adapt to the military law of the Tang Dynasty for the time being, it is okay to postpone its implementation."

Chen Chengrong did not take the Nian Army's little emotions seriously.

The Tang Dynasty actually has quite a bit of experience in recruiting volunteers.

Ling Shiba back then was the best example.

At the beginning, Ling Shiba's unit retained a considerable degree of autonomy. Li Yi was in charge of nothing except allocating military equipment and money to Ling Shiba's unit.

He even delegated the power to appoint and dismiss military officers at all levels to Ling Shiba.

It can be said that he gave Ling Shiba enough face!
But in the end, as Ling Shiba's troops accepted the distribution of land, the food, wages and weapons provided by the Tang Dynasty, and the reorganization, like a frog in boiling water, Ling Shiba's voice in the army is now almost the same as that of an ordinary army commander.

Therefore, Chen Chengyong did not mind giving the Nian Army more autonomy temporarily.

After all, it is definitely inappropriate for you to take away their rights just after they have invested in you.

If you really do this, don't blame them for surrendering and then rebelling again.

We have to give people time to adapt, right?
As long as the Nian Army accepted the Tang Dynasty's recruitment, the Tang Dynasty had plenty of means to boil the frog in warm water, slowly assimilate the Nian Army, wash away the marks of generals at all levels in the Nian Army, and turn them into real Tang troops.

As soon as Chen Chengrong said this, the expressions of the generals of the Nian Army were all moved.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Lexing understood that the Tang Dynasty had agreed to give them autonomy, and he immediately stepped forward to make the final decision.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Military law is military law. Since we are going to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, how can we not be bound by military law?"

Chen Chengrong said with a smile.

"It's okay, it's okay."

"The military law of the Tang Dynasty is strict. It is only natural that you brothers, who have just joined, need some time to adapt."

Su Tianfu asked.

"Master Chen, if we surrender to the Tang Dynasty, will the Tang Dynasty have any gifts for us?"

Like Gong Deshu, Su Tianfu also stepped forward and put forward conditions.

Chen Chengrong nodded and said.

"Of course. This time I came from Guangzhou and brought with me two hundred thousand silver dollars and some treasures. This is a gift from the Tang Dynasty to all the brothers in the Nian Army."

Two hundred thousand silver dollars is not a small number.

But in Li Yi's opinion, it's worth it.

As long as he could defeat the Nian Army, he would make a fortune, not to mention 200,000 silver dollars, even 2 million would be enough.

You know, the current Nian Army is a team mainly composed of cavalry.

It would not be a problem for all the troops to gather tens of thousands of cavalry together.

However, if the Tang Dynasty wanted to train a cavalry of tens of thousands of people, the millions of silver dollars required would be far from enough.

(End of this chapter)