Ancestors, please don't crawl out again.

Chapter 179 There is light in his eyes

The hasty retreat of the Grand General further demoralized the Qing army, which was already engaged in battle. This decisive battle, on which Ma Ge had placed all his hopes, ended hastily after dark with the Qing army withdrawing to the north of the Caohe River.

Of course, the battle report was a great victory.

Twenty thousand were beheaded!

annihilate 100,000!

However, due to darkness and the flooding of the Caohe River, the royal army was worried that its logistics would be cut off, so it had to temporarily retreat to the north of the Caohe River. Moreover, the retreat was so hasty that it did not have time to bring back the heads.

In total, 20,000 were beheaded, but none were brought back.

This kind of battle report definitely won't fool Brother Ma. Besides, while battle reports can be deceiving, the battle lines won't lie.

You crossed the Caohe River and went south to fight a decisive battle. After a day of fighting, you finally withdrew back to the north of the Caohe River. In reality, the battle line did not move. You also beheaded 20,000 and brought back none. If you didn't have any, you can say you beheaded 100,000! However, the final result of the battle report was that Ma Ge issued an edict to reward the troops with one million taels of silver for the great victory at the Caohe River. It is said that Yinzhen, who was wounded in a bloody battle with the demon soldiers who launched a surprise attack, also received a grand reward.

Rashi, the second-class guard who fought to protect him and killed dozens of demon soldiers, was promoted to first-class guard.

In short, it was a great victory, and the imperial edict was issued as quickly as possible to let the whole world see that the warriors of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty were still invincible.

Our Great Qing Dynasty is invincible!

Of course, it's not that Brother Ma is getting senile, but rather that Brother Ma really needs a great victory.

Even if it wasn't won in battle, but rather fabricated, that's fine too. Besides, even if the battle lines don't move, it's equivalent to temporarily blocking the heavenly army's northern expedition.

win!
Now, Ma Ge can only win by playing games.

He is now facing difficulties both internally and externally, and his future is becoming increasingly bleak.

The disruption of the Grand Canal transport has plunged the capital, which had just survived the winter and desperately needed grain supplies, into a de facto famine. Rice prices were rising three times a day. While silver was not scarce—after all, the princes and nobles possessed the gold and silver looted during the massacres of the city—the problem was that this silver was inedible. The hundreds of thousands of loyal farmers in the capital, who had previously relied mainly on grain transported from the Grand Canal and the land seized by the bannermen, were now facing a severed supply. With one supply cut off and the other divided among the commoners, only the estates north of the Daqing River remained under their control.

The demonized area has now expanded to Hejian. Although Shandong was able to defend the Grand Canal thanks to the personal intervention of the Duke of Yansheng and the assistance of the Shandong governor, the area west of the Grand Canal has also been demonized.

Moreover, bandits claiming to be heavenly soldiers have appeared in the Yimeng Mountains, which has been a common sight in the Yimeng Mountains since ancient times.

There's nowhere left to loot in the capital now. In fact, bandits have appeared near the capital, namely the boatmen on the canal. Because the canal transport has been cut off, the boatmen, who had just survived the winter and were just waiting to catch their breath, have started to rob local gentry.

They were truly starving.

Winter was the hardest season for canal boatmen. They basically just barely survived, lying in drafty thatched huts wrapped in tattered cotton or even straw. They would drink thin porridge every day, which was like hanging on to their lives. Every winter, a group of people would starve to death, and then new starving people would join in the spring in search of a way to survive. It was a classic case of natural selection, survival of the fittest, just like animals on the African savanna during the dry season, constantly eliminating the weak to survive until the arrival of the canal boats in the spring.

But the grain transport boats didn't arrive, so they were left with only one option: to become starving people.

They are the poorest and the first to be unable to bear it. As time goes on, the entire society will collapse due to famine.

Including die-hard supporters.

Moreover, Ma Ge also had to support the Mongol cavalry that marched south and the Solons he had recruited, all of which required one thing.

food.

The Grand Canal was his lifeline.

The disruption of the canal transport was like hanging him by a noose.

All that remains is how long he can hold on.

So, historically, when the British army occupied Zhenjiang, our Great Qing immediately knelt down and sang "Conquest." Everyone understands this, so Ma Ge's time is really running out.

Even if it's Ying Xue, he still has to rouse the royal army.

but……

Luoyang.

"General, we can't fight anymore, or all our men will die. These troublemakers are too difficult to deal with."

A newly formed Eight Banners general cried as he spoke to Yintai, who had returned to fight again.

There was a group of people kneeling and pleading around him.

"You scoundrels! You can't even beat those unruly commoners, how can you be considered brave warriors of the Eight Banners? The Emperor elevated your status, created a separate Eight Banners for you, and bestowed official titles and ranks upon you, all so that you would fight to the death for the Qing Dynasty. Now that the Emperor has given you everything you wanted, you must show him your loyalty. Moreover, these unruly commoners are henchmen of that demon, and they will not tolerate you. You know what your brothers have suffered in Kaifeng, Luoyang, and Zhili."

If we don't eliminate these evil people, you will all suffer the same fate in the future.

Aren't you all fearless of death? Didn't you say that death is ascension to heaven? Even these demons aren't afraid of death, so why are you afraid of it?
"The victory at Baoding saw the Fourteenth Prince's army behead tens of thousands, and they will soon return to Henan. If we don't capture Luoyang now, you won't get a single hair."

Yin Tai said angrily.

The regular Eight Banners soldiers behind him mocked the newly formed Eight Banners generals.

As for what these newly formed Eight Banners were, there's no need to explain. They even changed their flags to their preferred symbols according to their own requirements.

Meanwhile, beneath the walls of Luoyang, their soldiers were being slaughtered by the Heavenly Soldiers' guns, just like rabbits being chased by Ma Ge.

The moat was covered with corpses.

Of course, some were forced to fill in the trenches.

Meanwhile, the Qing army's cannons were destroyed by the explosion of ammunition during the concentrated fire of the divine cannons.

Smoke columns from exploding gunpowder barrels rose in front of the Qing army's formation, beneath which lay overturned cannons and dead artillerymen.

Then, as the Mongol cavalry drove them away, more newly formed Eight Banners cannon fodder continued to cry as they advanced, facing the precise bullets fired from the city walls. After all, if they didn't advance, the Mongol cavalry would truly treat them like rabbits and shoot them down. These Mongol cavalrymen were all from the Hetao region, and their relationship with them was already hostile. In fact, many Mongol cavalrymen were actually quite happy to shoot them down.

Under the constant urging of Ma Ge's imperial edicts, Yin Tai, like Ge Shu Han before him, was finally forced to step out of Tongguan and launch a counterattack on Luoyang. In the end, he was still loyal to Ma Ge. As someone who had been promoted from a soldier to governor by Ma Ge, he knew that he now had to be loyal. Moreover, Ma Ge also transferred some Mongolians to him, and according to his suggestion, used the idea of ​​forming the Eight Banners separately to appease the elders, squeezing tens of thousands of cannon fodder for Yin Tai, so that Yin Tai once again had an army of 100,000.

Among them, 50,000 were newly formed Eight Banners.

This is also the main force behind his counterattack.

As for the pro-independence camp...

The pro-independence camp wouldn't dare use that now.

It should be noted that Shaanxi had nearly 100,000 Green Standard Army soldiers, and they were the most capable Green Standard Army soldiers. This also meant that if these guys defected, the Qing Dynasty would basically be finished in Shaanxi.

Therefore, Yintai could only transfer the Green Standard Army to the northwest, mainly to keep an eye on the areas where the newly formed Eight Banners were concentrated.

Using the newly formed Eight Banners as cannon fodder, he didn't need to worry about these people defecting, because they had irreconcilable conflicts with that demon. However, using a large number of these people would also bring another very serious problem, which he, as a veteran general who had risen to power in Shaanxi, was well aware of. They certainly wouldn't surrender to Yang Feng, but they would control the local area and even take the opportunity to expand, even engaging in arson, murder, and looting. While the Green Standard Army might defect and surrender to Yang Feng, their relationship with the Green Standard Army was tense, since everyone knew each other's backgrounds well.

Then let the pro-independence camp keep an eye on them.

Then they led them to counterattack Luoyang and used their corpses to build up the city walls of Luoyang.

But it's no use! These guys still can't open up Luoyang.

Because Luoyang is currently defended by the Third Army of the Heavenly Army.

This newly formed Heavenly Army recruited soldiers in the Luoyang area. Because it was newly formed and lacked combat experience and was not proficient in using weapons, it was temporarily stationed in Luoyang.

But the defense was sufficient.

On the walls of Luoyang, the celestial soldiers sat calmly at each crenellation. Their lances were mounted on sandbags that had just been piled up for them, the height adjusted precisely. All they had to do was keep aiming at the newly formed Eight Banners soldiers outside. Each celestial soldier was even assigned two attendants: one to hand him bullets, and the other to keep track of his hits, noting the number and location of each shot, and also to pour him tea.

There were also people carrying meat buns, fruit, and the like, walking past them from time to time.

They just asked for food, and naturally, there were girls responsible for delivering it to them. Right now, these guys were constantly shooting at the newly formed Eight Banners outside in this state.

They're all just like that guy on the roof in Resident Evil 2.

The Qing army was completely incapable of causing them any harm.

The only weapons that could engage them were cannons, but the Qing army's cannons were the primary targets of the divine cannons on the city walls, and most of them had already been destroyed.

Of course, Yin Tai was unaware that his opponent, in this state, was shooting at his newly formed Eight Banners like a rabbit.

but……

None of his business.

"I know it's painful for you to see your brothers die before your eyes, but you also have to think about this: the Emperor didn't give you the Eight Banners for nothing, making you loyal servants of the Qing Dynasty. If you didn't give anything in return, and couldn't even bear to part with the dead, why would the Emperor give you the Eight Banners and make you loyal servants? We wouldn't be satisfied. We are indeed loyal servants enjoying the benefits, but which of our ancestors didn't risk their lives for it? Four out of my great-grandfather's five brothers died fighting for the Taizu and Taizong Emperors, and my grandfather died fighting for the late Emperor. Ask them again, which of their families didn't have someone die for the Taizu, Taizong, the late Emperor, or the Emperor?"
More than a dozen of his ancestors died in battles during the Five Dynasties period of the Qing Dynasty.

His ancestors were similar.

Our hard-earned crops were earned by our ancestors at the cost of their lives.

Did your ancestors shed blood for the Qing Dynasty? During the reigns of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong, your ancestors probably served as military households for the previous dynasty and fought alongside our ancestors, right? Perhaps some of our ancestors died at the hands of your ancestors. So why are you, like us, loyal subjects?
Your Majesty is wise. The Qing Dynasty needs you now, which is why we are giving you this opportunity. But we are not convinced. You must show us your abilities and make us submit. You are not even willing to let ten thousand people die, yet you expect us to submit?

"Why should you, who are unwilling to even let a few people die, be loyal supporters of the Qing Dynasty like us, whose generations have shed blood for the Qing?"

Yin Tai shouted.

"Yes, why should we? The Emperor gives you guaranteed land and a stable income, we're not happy about it!"

"If you're not even willing to shed blood for the Great Qing, why should you be like us!"

……

The other Eight Banners generals behind him also spoke angrily.

The newly formed Eight Banners generals, who were kneeling and pleading, were all speechless.

Suddenly, Yintai changed his expression, bent down to help the leader up, put his arm around his shoulder, and pointed at the newly formed Eight Banners soldiers who were being shot.

Of course, some were also shot and killed by Mongol cavalry.

"what are these?"

Yintai said.

The general remained silent.

“These are soldiers, these are bondservants, these are husbands. They go to the battlefield to die. I fought my way up from the ranks of soldiers. The first few brothers who fought alongside me all died like this. We were still bannermen. As for those bondservants and husbands who filled the trenches, countless of them have died. During the suppression of the Three Feudatories, after a battle, the blood in the trenches was up to our knees. But I fought my way out. Now I am the governor-general, with 100,000 troops in the northwest of the Qing Dynasty in my hands.”

You will fight your way out just like me, and they are my brothers from back then, the bondsers, and the bastards who filled the trenches for us.

Why are you afraid that too many of them will die?
They are the stepping stones for you to become governor one day!
More is better!

The more you have, the higher you climb.

The faster you climb.

It will be a success!

But you are the general!

Yintai lowered her voice and spoke in the manner of a caring older sister.

That was actually a newly appointed Eight Banners general, the son of an elder. Looking at the corpses of his subordinates who were still falling and even filling the trenches, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"The Emperor said that Shaanxi will be divided in the future. After all, Shaanxi is too big and one or two provinces will be separated. Moreover, there will be princes and beile in your newly formed Eight Banners, just like those Mongolian princes and beile. Do you want to become a hereditary beile in the future, and also become the Governor-General of Gansu and Ningxia, and the General of Liangzhou Garrison?"

Once you conquer Luoyang, all the women and wealth in the city will be yours. Your father will be granted the title of Beile, and you will be the heir apparent.

Add another garrison general to Liangzhou.

Yintai said.

"General, this humble general is willing to go through fire and water for His Majesty."

The general, his eyes shining, spoke with unwavering resolve.

"Then let me take a look!"

Yintai said.

The latter immediately mounted his horse and charged towards his fleeing subordinates, then killed one of them.

His other subordinates looked at him blankly.

"Kill! Take over Luoyang! The silver and women are all ours! What are we afraid of with their powerful muskets? Carry gunpowder barrels and charge in to blow them up!"

The general roared.

……

Yintai watched this scene with satisfaction from behind.

"Your Excellency, I am truly humbled."

His confidant said with admiration.

"Hmph, the situation is hard to predict now. Shengjing can't support us at all. The Emperor might have to go on a western hunt. Although they won't surrender to that sorcerer, they won't be of one mind with us either. If the Emperor goes on a western hunt, those in the capital will definitely follow. We need a place to support them. We can't force those Han gentry. If we push them too far, they'll risk surrendering to that sorcerer. We won't even be able to protect Guanzhong. After all, we can only let their people make room for us."

Yintai said with emotion.

(End of this chapter)