Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 231 Military and Political Accounts

As soon as the sky brightened the next day, the Jiangnan camp led by Zhang Guoliang set out from Chizhou without stopping and retreated eastward.

Not long after Zhang Guoliang's troops withdrew, the vanguard of the Tang army arrived outside the city of Chizhou.

Faced with the vanguard of the Tang army, the defenders in Chizhou City did not dare to resist at all and directly chose to surrender the city.

Afterwards, the Tang army began to advance steadily towards Nanjing.

Tongling, Wuhu, Dangtu and other places were almost all taken in one go, and the Tang army encountered no hindrance at all.

From September 9, when the Tang army set out from Jiujiang and officially launched the second phase of the Eastern Expedition, it took only more than ten days, and by September 13, the Tang army had penetrated the entire Anhui in one go.

Just one step away from Nanjing City!
To put it bluntly, apart from the two battles at Huangshiji and Anqing, which were relatively well fought, the Tang army marched almost the entire way through the rest of the journey.

Rarely encounter resistance!

The Qing troops along the Yangtze River once again showed the rebels what it meant to surrender at the sight of a threat.

Well, the situation was pretty much the same last time the Taiping Army marched eastward.

……

Jiangning Inner City, Jiangning General’s Mansion.

The Governor-General of Liangjiang Yiliang, the Jasak Prince Senggelinqin, the Imperial Envoy of the Jiangbei Camp Qishan, the Admiral Chen Jinshou, the Imperial Envoy of the Jiangnan Camp Hechun, the Admiral Zhang Guoliang and others gathered together to discuss the matter.

Discuss together the specific matters of welcoming the Tang army's march eastward!
In addition to these high-ranking officials of the Qing court, those attending the meeting included

There were also the new British Minister to China, Sir John Alcock, and Colonel Taylor, the commander of the British garrison in Shanghai.

Although the main force of the British army was annihilated by the Tang Dynasty in the Battle of Guangzhou, that was only the British army on the Hong Kong side.

In addition to stationing troops in Hong Kong, the British army also stationed a certain number of troops in the Shanghai Concession to protect the security of the concession.

But there are not many of them, only a few hundred people.

However, as news of the Battle of Guangzhou spread, Britain decisively transferred troops from India to reinforce East Asia.

Now the number of British troops stationed in the Shanghai Concession has greatly increased, and the size has reached nearly three thousand people.

Although most of these British troops are just colonial soldiers, they are still a strong force among the Qing army in Jiangnan today.

This time, the Qing army's top leaders discussed how to fight the bandits, and they also invited the British to attend the meeting.

Of course, Britain is not the only power standing on the side of the Qing Dynasty today.

The same is true in France, the United States, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries.

Although the great powers these days are almost making their brains go crazy in other places, they are very tacitly maintaining unified actions in the Far East.

It’s not that no one has thought about simply making friends and supporting the Tang Dynasty and splitting China, but Britain’s influence is now too great and too strong.

Under the premise that Britain was determined to go to war with the Tang Dynasty, no one in Europe dared to go against Britain.

Oh, Tsarist Russia should have the courage to do so, but its influence in the Far East is now almost all on the northern border of the Qing Dynasty.

At most, they can only influence Heilongjiang, Uliastai, or the Western Regions. As for the south, it is beyond their reach.

However, although France and the United States had troops stationed in Shanghai, they had no colonies in East Asia and could not send more troops to Shanghai.

Therefore, their garrison in Shanghai only had a few hundred people at most, which was enough to guard the concession. It was obviously impossible for them to directly send troops to interfere in the civil war of the Qing Dynasty like the British did.

Not to mention the Netherlands and Spain, they don't even have concessions now.

The only thing they could do was to sell a batch of arms to the Qing Dynasty or help the Qing Dynasty organize a mercenary army.

The mercenaries they organized are now under Taylor's command.

Naturally, they don't need to participate in this meeting!
Liangjiang Governor-General Yiliang spoke first.

"The latest news from the front line is that Taiping Prefecture has been lost, and the Tang bandits are continuing to advance towards Jiangning."

"Please discuss this matter with all of you. How should the Qing Dynasty respond next?"

When asking this question, Yiliang's heart was filled with solemnity.

As soon as he finished speaking, Taylor, the British commander on the side, spoke.

"Governor, in my opinion, the most important thing our army should do now is to retreat and continue to stretch the rebels' supply lines."

"Then find a way to cut off the rebels' supply lines, weaken their strength, and look for opportunities to fight."

"Rather than rashly engaging in a decisive battle with the rebels in Jiangning!"

“This is not a wise choice.”

Taylor put forward his own opinions from a military perspective.

However, after hearing this, Yiliang shook his head decisively.

"No, we must not retreat."

"My Qing dynasty has just recovered Jiangning. We cannot allow Jiangning to be occupied by the Tang thieves again."

"Otherwise, the world will be shaken again!"

From a military perspective, it was indeed a good choice for the Qing army to withdraw from Jiangning, avoid the Tang army's attack, and wait for an opportunity to fight again.

However, as the Governor-General of Liangjiang and the imperial commissioner ordered to lead the main force of the Qing army, Yiliang could not only consider military calculations but also political factors.

From a political perspective, the importance of Jiangning to the Qing court today is self-evident.

Once this first city in the South, the place where Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty started his career, was taken by the Tang army, the Qing court would be defeated miserably on the political level.

You know, before the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom captured Jiangning, it was just a group of bandits.

No one in the Qing court took it seriously.

However, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom captured Jiangning, it suddenly transformed from a group of bandits into the leader of the anti-Qing forces in the world.

In order to recapture Jiangning, the Qing court ignored the expanding Tang Dynasty in the south and concentrated all its efforts on suppressing the Taiping Army. The Taiping Army, which only occupied one city, attracted even more hatred than the Tang Army, which was constantly attacking cities and strongholds in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan.

This shows how important Jiangning is!

This was under the premise that the Taiping Army only occupied the city of Jiangning.

Once Jiangning was captured by the Tang army, which had already occupied several provinces, the entire Jiangnan region, and even the entire south, would inevitably surrender.

That would really be a change in the weather in the South.

By then, the Qing Dynasty would not be able to defeat the rebels, and it might even lose its country and its people.

Therefore, no matter what, no matter what the cost, Yiliang must defend Jiangning City.

The British Minister to the side, Alcock, also spoke up.

"Your Excellency the Governor, with all due respect, defending Jiangning to the death is not a wise choice."

But Yiliang's attitude remained firm and he just shook his head.

"Jiangning must be defended. This is a necessary condition for our Great Qing to fully open up trade to your country and cooperate with your country in the war against the Tang thieves."

"No need to discuss!"

Seeing Yiliang's statement, Aliguo and Taylor looked at each other, feeling helpless.

But in the end, Aliguo still spoke.

"Okay, Governor. We will fully support you."

Senggelinqin, who had been sitting aside without saying anything, heard this and asked for a fight.

"Governor, I ask for a fight."

"Everyone says that the Tang bandits' soldiers are brave and invincible, but I just don't believe it."

"I am willing to lead the troops to attack, defeat the Tang bandits' vanguard, and boost the morale of all the Qing forces!"

The reason why Senggelinqin had the confidence to volunteer for battle was because his troops were mainly composed of cavalry.

The invading Tang army was mainly composed of infantry.

Their mobility is definitely not as good as that of Senggelinqin's cavalry.

Therefore, Senggelinqin had the confidence to take the initiative to lead his troops to attack, relying on the mobility advantage of his cavalry to test the strength of the Tang army.

Senggelinqin's words made the originally heavy atmosphere in the hall lively again, and everyone looked at Yiliang.

It seemed like he was waiting for Yiliang's decision.

All the generals of the Qing army now suffered from Tang phobia to varying degrees. Under such circumstances, Senggelinqin's initiative to request a battle greatly boosted the morale of the Qing army.

Yiliang also began to think.

With the current morale of the Qing army, if they were to fight the Tang army, they would most likely lose.

But if Senggelinqin could lead his troops to deal a head-on blow to the Tang army's vanguard, it would greatly boost the morale of the Qing army.

In this case, the outcome of the battle in Jiangning is uncertain!
Taking a deep breath, Yiliang gave instructions.

"Since the monk king has requested a fight, of course we can do it."

"However, the monk king should remember that the main purpose of this attack is to test the depth of the Tang thieves."

"If it is really impossible to do anything, you should focus on conserving your strength and don't fight recklessly!"

The Qing army in Jiangnan could not afford to be defeated in one battle by Senggelinqin's troops.

If Senggelinqin takes the initiative to attack and is defeated, the battle of Jiangning will become even more difficult for the Qing army...

Upon hearing this, Senggelinqin immediately nodded to show that he understood.

But I didn't take it seriously.

After saying that, Yiliang turned around and spoke to the others.

"In addition, all units of our army will immediately start to deploy defenses in the Dasheng Pass area west of Jiangning City and prepare to meet the enemy."

Dashengguan is the western gate of Jiangning City and the only way for the Tang army to continue advancing eastward.

If the Qing army wanted to stop the Tang army from advancing eastward, using Dashengguan as the battlefield was their best option at the moment.

Yiliang quickly made military arrangements and the Qing army generals followed his orders.

Even the British commander Taylor said that the British navy would provide fire cover for the Qing army on the Yangtze River.

……

Senggelinqin rode his horse away from the Jiangning General's Mansion.

Then he rode all the way to the parade ground in Jiangning City.

After gathering his troops, he led his own cavalry to the west of Jiangning City.

Prepare to meet the Tang army's vanguard!
At the same time, the vanguard of the Tang army quickly advanced to the Jiangning Town area.

Liu Yongfu raised the telescope and could already see the outline of Jiangning City in the distance.

Under the setting sun, the huge city of Jiangning, with a circumference of dozens of miles, was dyed into a bloody city, like a huge ferocious beast covered in blood, lying between heaven and earth, overlooking the north and south of the Yangtze River.

Such a spectacular scene made Liu Yongfu feel excited, as if blood was surging in his chest.

As long as Jiangning can be captured, the south can be conquered quickly.

The Tang Dynasty is really going to succeed!

If so, his wealth and glory as a founding hero would be confirmed.

How could Liu Yongfu not be excited about such good news?
(End of this chapter)