Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 223: Small Knife Society

On the first day of July in the second year of the Zhaowu reign of the Tang Dynasty, the main force of the Tang army led by Li Yi set out from Guangzhou and advanced westward along the Xijiang River.

On the river, the fleets transporting Tang army's troops and supplies were connected front and back, stretching for dozens of miles, with no end in sight.

For the Tang army's expedition this time, Li Yi mobilized more than 2,000 large and small ships and tens of thousands of sailors and civilians to operate the ships just for maintaining logistics.

Fortunately, the Tang army's logistics transportation was by water. If it was by land, even if the number of civilian laborers was added by zero, it might not be enough.

This shows how great the logistical pressure of war is!
In just over ten days, the Tang army took advantage of convenient water transportation and rushed all the way from Guangzhou to Guilin.

Well, not only the logistics were transported by water, but Tang army soldiers also took turns traveling by boat.

After arriving in Guilin, Li Yi ordered the various units of the Tang army to stay and rest, while he held a banquet in Guilin city to entertain the gentry and wealthy families of Guilin.

The Tang army rested in Guilin for a few days. Li Yi also completed the work of meeting with representatives of local forces and stabilized the situation in Guilin, which had just been captured.

Afterwards, Li Yi led his men from Guilin through the Li River, Lingqu Canal, and then turned to the Xiang River, and headed towards Hunan from the Xiang River.

By mid-August, Li Yi led his troops to Yuezhou, rested for a while in Yuezhou, and then continued to lead his troops eastward along the Yangtze River.

The mighty Tang army marched all the way towards Jiujiang!
We arrived in Jiujiang at the end of August, taking a total of two months.

……

In Jiujiang City, Li Yi summoned Zhao Xiang, Bai Yuanqin and others to come for an audience.

"You have done a great job in the Eastern Expedition. Not only have you captured important cities such as Jiangxia, Hanyang, Wuchang, Huangzhou, Jiujiang, and Nanchang, you have also opened up a channel for our Tang Dynasty to continue its Eastern Expedition."

"We also successively annihilated the Qing army's active forces in Hubei and Jiangxi, successfully completing the plan formulated by the General Staff before the war."

"Just tell me what reward you want, I will grant it to you!"

Although the Tang army's eastward expedition failed to successfully capture the entire Jiangxi province due to the collapse of the Heavenly Kingdom, Zhao Xiang and Bai Yuanqin still completed their mission quite well.

At the very least, the goal of annihilating the Qing army's effective forces in Jiangxi was achieved.

Of course, if you have made contributions, you should be rewarded!
Li Yi has never been stingy when it comes to rewarding people for their contributions.

Zhao Xiang and Bai Yuanqin heard this and spoke with a little fear.

"Our army was able to achieve this victory in the Eastern Expedition thanks to your Majesty's presence in the rear and the victory thousands of miles away. We dare not take credit for it."

In the face of Li Yi's compliments, they accepted it calmly in their hearts, but they still had to be polite on the surface.

It never goes wrong to be humble when facing praise from your leader.

Li Yi just smiled and said when he heard this.

"Haha, the two generals don't have to be so humble."

"How can I be the kind of person who would not be rewarded for my meritorious service?"

After the pleasantries, Li Yi began to ask about serious matters.

"Generals, please tell me, what is the current situation in the south of the Yangtze River?"

Zhao Xiang and Bai Yuanqin led their troops to Jiangxi, which is only separated from Jiangnan by Anhui. They should be able to receive a lot of news from Jiangnan.

At the very least, in terms of the timeliness of the information, Zhao Xiang and Bai Yuanqin are definitely better than Li Yi who came from afar.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiang did not keep anyone in suspense and spoke directly.

"In reply to your Majesty, after the Qing demons in Jiangnan conquered the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they began to clear Jiangnan and did not make any major moves."

"At least, according to the information we have received, the Qing demons have not made any moves westward."

After Zhao Xiang finished speaking, Bai Yuanqin took over.

"Report to your Majesty."

"The only news from Jiangnan that is worth paying attention to right now is that the Xiaodao Society in Shanghai has started an uprising."

"The members of the Small Sword Society, under the organization of its leaders Liu Lichuan, Huang Wei, Li Xianchi, Zhou Lichun, Chen Alin and others, launched an uprising in Shanghai."

"The members of the Small Sword Society successively occupied Baoshan, Nanhui, Chuansha, and Qingpu counties, and then established the Ming Dynasty. They elected Liu Lichuan as the Grand Marshal of the Ming Dynasty in charge of politics, education, and recruiting troops, Li Xianchi as the Grand Commander-in-Chief of the Suppression of the Hu, Chen Alin as the Left Marshal, Lin Afu as the Right Marshal, and Pan Qiliang as the Flying Tiger General..."

"There's a big commotion in Shanghai right now!"

"The Qing court may not move westward, but may instead move troops eastward to suppress the rebellion."

Li Yi was somewhat surprised when he heard this.

The Ming Dynasty has been destroyed for more than 200 years, and there are still people rebelling under the banner of anti-Qing and restoration of Ming?

How unpopular must our Qing Dynasty be to make everyone miss the previous dynasty so much!

Li Yi could only express his admiration for this.

"Haha, this Little Knife Society is quite interesting. There isn't even a person with the surname Zhu among them. What's the point of using the Ming Dynasty's banner?"

Li Yi couldn't help but complain.

Zuo Zongtang, who was standing by, heard this and spoke.

"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, if there really is a Zhu among the senior leaders of the Xiaodao Society, perhaps they would not use the banner of the Ming Dynasty."

Li Yi heard this and said with a smile.

"Mr. Zuo is right!"

The Xiaodao Society used the banner of the Ming Dynasty in order to use the word Ming Dynasty to unify people's hearts, not because they really wanted to find a living father for themselves. Li Yi could fully understand their thoughts.

After stroking his chin and thinking for a while, Li Yi continued to ask.

"Mr. Zuo, what do you think of sending someone to Shanghai to contact the Xiaodao Society?"

"If the Tang Dynasty can get support from the Small Swords Society in Shanghai during the next Eastern Expedition, the Eastern Expedition plan should be able to be implemented more smoothly."

Li Yi did not even ask the Small Sword Society to fight the Qing army on the front battlefield. As long as they could send troops to harass the Qing army's logistics and food routes, it would be a great help to the Tang army's eastward expedition.

War is all about logistics. If an army has unstable logistics and food supply, it will lose three points before the battle even starts.

Zuo Zongtang heard this and spoke.

"Your Majesty is wise." "I believe that as long as the Tang Dynasty sends an envoy to contact them, the Xiaodao Society will not refuse."

The current situation of the Xiaodao Society is not very good.

With the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they were the only rebel army left in the entire Jiangnan region.

The Small Swords Society was almost surrounded by the Qing army and foreigners.

Under such circumstances, they would most likely not refuse the olive branch extended by the Tang Dynasty.

Historically, not long after the uprising, the Small Knife Society took the initiative to submit to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, accepted Hong Xiuquan's enthronement, and threw aside the banner of the Ming Dynasty.

I guess that's why.

Li Yi nodded.

"Very good, then let's arrange it this way."

After he finished speaking, he turned to Zhao Xiang and Bai Yuanqin in front of him.

"Both generals, please go back and prepare. After the army has rested for a few days, we will continue our journey eastwards. Our destination is Nanjing!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiang and Bai Yuanqin immediately clasped their fists.

"I will finally understand!"

……

Outside Jiujiang City, the Tang army camp.

In a short period of time, Bao Chao was promoted from company commander to battalion commander and then to regiment commander. Having been promoted several levels in a row, he was inspecting the military training.

On the training ground, his soldiers were practicing formations.

Although the Tang army now rarely uses the tactic of line-up shooting on the battlefield, formation training still has considerable importance in the Tang army's training manual.

Because the Tang army needed to use formation training to hone the army's discipline and organization.

Regardless of the era, the discipline and organization of the army are important factors in measuring the combat effectiveness of an army.

While watching the troops' training, Bao Chao was daydreaming about how he would take some wine and meat to visit his brigade commander after his shift was over.

He heard that the king had led his army to Jiujiang and was about to lead the army himself to personally march south of the Yangtze River.

If I want to continue to stand out in the upcoming Eastern Expedition, I naturally need to be given more opportunities by my superiors.

If you want an opportunity, of course you have to have a good relationship with your immediate superior.

Of course, this is not bribery, but the most basic human etiquette.

An opportunity to make meritorious service can be arranged for both of them.

One is a stranger, and the other is a subordinate with whom you have a very good relationship. If it were you, who would you assign it to?

Needless to say, it’s his close subordinates.

This is human nature, it is inevitable.

Naturally, where there are people, there are human relationships.

Just as Bao Chao was watching the troops training, two soldiers approached from a distance.

Bao Chao turned his head and looked.

One of them looked familiar to Bao Chao; he was the sentry outside his own camp.

The other person was wearing the uniform of the Royal Guards and should be the King's Royal Guard.

The style and color of the uniforms of the Tang Army's Imperial Guards and those of ordinary troops are actually similar, with only slight differences in details.

For example, the word "Royal Guard" is embroidered with golden cotton thread on the chest of the Royal Guards' uniform to indicate their identity, which is quite eye-catching.

Bao Chao saw it at a glance!

Two Tang army soldiers walked in front of Bao Chao, and the guard wearing the uniform of the Imperial Guard Division spoke.

"Captain Bao, please get ready as soon as possible. The king wants to summon you!"

When Bao Chao heard this, his eyes widened instantly, with an expression of disbelief on his face.

"The king wants to see me?"

He knew that he had performed very well in the Battle of Jiangxia, and he never expected to be received by the king.

Upon hearing this, the soldiers of the Imperial Guard simply nodded.

"Of course. In the Tang Dynasty, no one dares to falsely pass on the emperor's orders."

"Captain Bao, please prepare as soon as possible. Don't keep the king waiting for too long."

Upon hearing this, Bao Chao nodded vigorously and then trotted away.

It was called preparation, but in fact it was just a simple wash and changing into a brand new military uniform.

After changing his clothes, Bao Chao did not delay any longer and followed the imperial guard who came to deliver the message towards the Jiujiang government office.

After arriving in Jiujiang, Li Yi did not specifically look for a manor to stay in, but kept everything simple and lived in the Jiujiang government office.

After arriving at the government office, Bao Chao was not able to meet Li Yi immediately, but was asked to wait at the gate of the government office first.

Bao Chao entered the gatehouse, where several people were already waiting, including officers in military uniforms and civil servants dressed in civilian uniforms.

He immediately saw his brigade commander and division commander who were also waiting for an audience.

Bao Chao's eyes flashed. It turned out that the king was not summoning him alone this time.

He thought he was the special one!
Li Yiwen and Li Shixian also saw Bao Chao. They were both obviously surprised, but Li Shixian still greeted him.

"Bao Chao, why are you here too? Come and sit next to me!"

(End of this chapter)