Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 5: Promotion to a higher position
Seeing this scene tonight, all the local militia leaders were really shocked... they were enlightened.

One could say it was due to his youthful vigor or his fiery temper, but Zheng Guohui's reputation was really on the rise now. Many militia leaders secretly called him "Crazy Zheng". When he went crazy, he dared to confront even a first-rank official.

Whether it is a good reputation or a bad reputation, Zheng Guohui, a small fifth-rank garrison commander, has become famous.

Among the many folk militia leaders gathered in Jinling City, Zheng Guohui became the most outstanding one.

After the noise

Careful people noticed that on the second and third day, Zheng Guohui, the leader of the Tongzhou militia, was still alive and well, and it was obvious that he had not been ostracized or suppressed.

Moreover, Manchu ministers such as Jiangning General Xianghou, Jiangnan Admiral Fuzhuhong'a, Provincial Governor Elong, and Cavalry Commander Duolong'a were summoned to the palace one after another, and were warmly won over, showing an unusually friendly attitude.

Now many people realized what was going on. It turned out that this kid had accidentally caught the boss's attention and was about to become very successful!
This is an unexpected result, it is so dramatic.

At present, the Hunan Army is the only dominant force in the city of Jinling.

At the same time, in several provinces such as Hunan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Anhui, hundreds of thousands of Hunan troops also had an absolute advantage, forming the embryonic form of a large local military group.

In the prosperous Jiangnan Province, the Hunan Army and the Huai Army competed against each other, with heavy troops gathered.

After conquering the city of Tianjing, the Hunan Army occupied Nanjing, northern Jiangsu, and the Huaibei region, and was continuing to eliminate the remaining enemies.

The Huai Army surrounded tens of thousands of Taiping remnants in southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang, and the battle was in full swing.

After 14 years of the Taiping Rebellion, the imperial court's Manchu cities and Eight Banners garrisons in more than a dozen provinces in the south of the Yangtze River were wiped out. Except for a few Manchu cities and Eight Banners garrisons in Yangcheng, Guangdong Province, the entire south bank of the Yangtze River had almost no Manchu ruling foundation.

This situation has never occurred in the nearly two hundred years since China entered the Pass.

This situation was extremely terrifying. The key point was that not only were all the Eight Banners soldiers in the Jiangnan region killed or injured, but even the Green Camp soldiers were few in number.

The only ones they could rely on were the militia armies of the Han landlords, especially the Hunan Army and the Huai Army.

After they came to their senses, the threshold of the Tongzhou militia’s base at Xuanwu Gate was immediately broken down.

There was an endless stream of militia leaders from all over the country coming and going every day. Most of them brought generous gifts and lowered themselves to make friends with Zheng Guohui, the up-and-coming upstart. It was extremely lively.

Zheng Guohui has been immersed in welcoming and seeing off guests these days, which has made him very overwhelmed and his face is stiff from smiling.

In a few days

The Grand Council forwarded the imperial reward, and Zheng Guohui was personally selected by the emperor, who showed him great favor and promoted him to the rank of guerrilla general. He was actually granted the title of Jiangning City Guard Captain of the third rank, was awarded a yellow riding jacket, and was granted the title of Light Cavalry Commandant.

He was promoted four levels in a row and became a high-ranking military official.

Specifically
Zheng Guohui was originally equivalent to a battalion commander, and the actual position of this Jiangning City Guard was equivalent to a division commander, which was definitely an extraordinary promotion.

Among the generals who captured the city of Tianjing, he was also particularly prominent, and his rewards and promotions were basically equivalent to those received by the main generals of the Ji Battalion of the Hunan Army.

After all, the generals of the Ji Camp were the main attackers in breaking the city. With the strong recommendation of Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, more than ten of them were promoted two or three levels, and they were all very happy.

The other militia leaders all received rewards of varying degrees, some were granted titles, some were given official titles, and some were given gold and silver. The entire Jinling city was filled with jubilation.

The title of Light Cavalry Commandant belongs to the third rank, and above it is the second rank baron and the first rank earl.

Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, was granted the title of Earl of Wei Yi. The one with a higher title than him was his elder brother Zeng Guofan, who was granted the title of Marquis of Wei Yi. Among the Han ministers, he was extremely favored by the emperor.

Of course, such a title cannot be compared with the royal family nobles of the Qing Dynasty. Among the twelve levels of royal family noble titles, the eighth level of the Fuguo Duke is also extremely valuable, much better than the Weiyi Marquis.

"Congratulations, General. Congratulations, General. Now that General Jian is in the Emperor's favor, he is also a high-ranking official in charge of the region. You don't have to worry about being bullied by the Governor-General."

"I was wondering, no wonder Lord Fuzhu values ​​the general so much. It turns out that my Tongzhou militia will be assigned to Lord Fuzhu's command."

"It's good to lean on a big tree for shade. Otherwise, if you are bullied by the governor, you can only endure it and die without knowing how you died."

"Bah, bad luck, you really can't say anything good from your dog's mouth."

"Okay, thanks to the general, we all have some official positions now and are considered to be members of the court. We must all remember the general's kindness."

His capable subordinates were discussing happily that they had now upgraded their weapons and transformed from a militia into a regular Green Camp Army.

This is really good news, and it is also the real purpose of Jiangnan Admiral Fuzhu Hong'a's deliberate efforts to win over the Tongzhou militia.

It would be of no use to win over Zheng Guohui alone. The only way is to incorporate the armed forces under his command and restore the Green Camp's strength.

Only when this army is directly under the control of the Manchu ministers can the person sitting on the throne in the capital feel at ease.

There is no way, the court is short of soldiers now.

What was lacking was not the armed forces of the Han local militia, but the military forces that the court could directly control.

The Tongzhou militia was thus transformed into a regular Green Camp unit under the command of the Jinling City Guard, receiving monthly salaries and regular military training. Jiangnan Governor Fuzhu Hong'a was quite supportive of his own troops, dispatching 11 ships of military equipment directly from Shanghai to re-dress all 4000 members of the Tongzhou militia, replacing their original "Yong" uniforms with "Bing" uniforms.

They were dressed in new clothes from head to toe, and six cannons, 800 brand new foreign rifles and a large amount of ammunition were also shipped to equip the new army.

Why 4000 people?
This is a problem of the imperial court. Don’t the commanders of the troops falsely report the number of soldiers and exploit the blood of the soldiers?

Zheng Guohui reported 4000 people, but the Jiangnan Admiral Fu Zhuhong'a didn't even bother to make any move. He just waved his hand and allocated military pay and equipment according to the 4000 people. He was so generous.

This gave Zheng Guohui an illusion

Damn it, that’s too little. I guess even if I report 6000, Fuzhu Hong’a won’t question it at all.

To know

This is the only military force that Jiangnan Admiral Fuzhu Hong'a can command, there is no other.

Now, the entire Jiangnan Province has gathered more than 13 imperial troops, including 52000 Huai troops, nearly 4 Xiang troops, and dozens of Han landlord armed forces, including the original Tongzhou militia.

By the way, there are also more than 1200 cavalrymen under the command of Deputy General Duolonga.

However, the cavalry under the command of Deputy General Duolong'a of the Zhenglan Banner was a guest army and was part of the Taiyuan General's corps in the north. They were temporarily loaned to Jiangning General Xianghou for command and combat.

According to the court system
The Eight Banners Army is superior to the Green Camp Army, and the cavalry is superior to the infantry. Duolong'a's Eight Banners cavalry can only be commanded by a Manchu general, and no one else can get involved.

The so-called Manchu generals were first-rank officials stationed abroad, such as the Jiangning General, the Guangzhou General, and the Fuzhou General. They were the highest-ranking officers stationed in the Manchu city and could mobilize the Eight Banners and Green Camp troops under their command.

Today
The Manchu population and Eight Banners soldiers south of the Yangtze River were almost completely killed or wounded. Most of the generals such as Jiangning, Fuzhou, and Wuhan were killed in the battle, and the local Manchu population was wiped out.

The current Jiangning General Xianghou was a general appointed by the court not long ago, and he has been in office for less than two months.

Apart from the more than 100 cavalry and infantry brought from the capital, the only cavalry under his command were the more than cavalrymen loaned from the Zhenglan Banner.

There are almost no generals left, and there is no way to replenish them.

The southern bannermen were practically wiped out, and the northern bannermen were terrified, their legs weakened, and they were used to a life of extravagance and debauchery. They couldn't even carry a bird cage and ride a horse, and were basically useless.

The only troops that Jiangnan Admiral Fuzhu Hong'a can command are 4 current Green Camp soldiers. No one else listens to him, so how can he not treasure them?
When Zheng Guohui succeeds, everyone around him will benefit.

His capable men Zheng Jiabao, Zheng Shun and Qian Jiang were promoted to captains, eight team leaders were promoted to captains, and those small team leaders were also given the title of team leader, and were transferred from militia to regular army.

In the past, it was a militia, so they could do whatever they wanted.

Now that I have become a Green Camp soldier who eats the emperor's food, everything must be done according to the rules. This goes without saying.

"Sir, are you going to the Governor's residence to thank him for the reward?" Zheng Jiabao saw Zheng Guohui coming out wearing a brand new third-rank military officer uniform, and hurriedly went over to ask with a smile.

Zheng Guohui did not hide it from him, he looked around and called Zheng Shun and said;

"Ah Shun, bring two hundred men with me to the Governor's Mansion and prepare a generous gift, like... 1 taels of silver."

Zheng Guohui said this with some pain in his heart, but there was nothing he could do. In the Qing Dynasty today, nothing could be done without money, even if a god came.

He has now come to his senses and is preparing to petition the Jiangnan Governor-General, Fuzhu Hong'a, to increase the staffing by another 2,000 men.

The Green Camp soldiers were paid one tael and five cents of silver and three dou of rice per month, which amounted to 3 taels of silver and 6 dan of grain per year, a huge sum of money.

If you are setting off on a campaign, there is also silver for the campaign, and there is also silver for daily expenditure, etc. There is still a lot of profit.

Wouldn't it be great if you could just use the court's money to support your own soldiers instead of collecting empty salaries?

A while
The newly appointed Jinling City Defense Commander Zheng Guohui rode on horseback, leading a mighty force of more than 200 elite soldiers towards the Jiangnan Governor's Mansion on Baixia Road.

Along the way, he attracted everyone's attention, and many people knelt down in panic.

There were also many young men and women in tattered clothes with straw tags on their heads and pale faces, standing in a row along the wall, tall and short. They were all poor children who could not survive and wanted to be sold to others as servants or slaves.

Riding on a horse
Zheng Guohui looked at the tragic scene and the numb and helpless expressions on the faces of the people in the city, and sighed in his heart, but there was nothing he could do.

There are many children of bandits and civilians who have been harmed here. There are tens of thousands of them in Jinling City, and he cannot save so many people.

State affairs are becoming increasingly difficult, and the entire court is sliding into an increasingly deeper abyss. This is the suffering before the phoenix's rebirth, and no one can change the situation.

Thought of here
He increasingly wanted to leave the Shenzhou continent and lead his men to Southeast Asia to open up a new world, so as to leave more fertile land for future generations of Chinese descendants.

Get as much as you can while you can, because you won’t have the chance again in the future.

(End of this chapter)