There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 105 The troops are approaching the city
Changsha Prefecture City.

The prefect of Changsha was named Chen Sanchen. He was a rare and powerful man. When he was young, he once captured a big thief alive. He was appreciated by Emperor Qianlong and was appointed as the prefect of Bozhou.

When he was serving as the prefect of Bozhou, there happened to be a rebellion in Henan. This guy brought only a few hundred civilians and militiamen, but he easily suppressed the rebels who had just defeated the government soldiers, and even captured the rebel leader Wang Lishan alive.

In general, this is a man who looks like a civil official, but has the temperament of a military general in his bones. Not only is he good at fighting, but he is also very brave.

It’s a pity that no matter how powerful you are, it’s useless.

Because he is now the prefect of Changsha, and Changsha is the capital of Hunan Province, and the prefect of the provincial capital is not a lucrative position.

In his previous life, he committed evil and was demoted to a county magistrate. After committing so many evil deeds, he was demoted to a provincial capital.

Chen Sanchen didn't have a provincial capital attached to him, but he was the prefect of the provincial capital, which was no different from an attached provincial capital. He was directly under the Hunan Governor, who had gone to Chenzhou to oversee military affairs. Then, the Provincial Governor took over and continued to suppress him. If the Provincial Governor didn't suppress him, there was the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner. Even the Hunan Provincial Education Commissioner, who was in charge of education, was several levels higher than him (the Qing Dynasty Education Commissioner was generally a fifth-rank official, but could also hold the title of a second-rank assistant minister).

Simply put, when he was the prefect, Chen Sanchen was able to make his own decisions and even went against public opinion to recruit soldiers and suppress bandits.

But now...

As the prefect of Changsha, he had no say in the Changsha government.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency, something terrible has happened! The rebels from Yuezhou have marched south and have already captured Qiaotou Town!"

"what?"

Zheng Yuanjun was greatly shocked. He was still in Changsha recruiting soldiers and raising military supplies for Xiangxi. How come the rebels suddenly went south and even reached Qiaotou Town?

Qiaotou Town is just north of Changsha, less than thirty miles away from the provincial capital. It can be crossed in two days if a quick march is made.

Zheng Yuanyun felt uneasy and asked anxiously, "What about Xiangyin County? What's the situation in Xiangyin County? Why didn't anyone report that the rebels were attacking?"

The messenger didn't know how to respond, but the empty-shell prefect Chen Sanchen beside him said, "Your Excellency, if the Yuezhou rebels want to save food and speed up their journey south, they will only take the Dongting Lake waterway, and their first stop will be Xiangyin County. Now that even Qiaotou Town is gone, Xiangyin County is definitely not safe. The entire area from Changsha north to Xiangyin County has probably fallen into the hands of the rebels."

"Ah! What should I do?" Zheng Yuanyun was a little panicked for a moment.

He was not a tough civil servant like Changsha prefect Chen Sanchen. He had never fought in a war. He could make a living by writing poems and composing essays. He could also manage military supplies, stay in the rear, and coordinate civil affairs.

But now the rebels are about to arrive at the city gates, what the hell should we do?
Chen Sanchen couldn't bear to watch any longer and could only remind him, "Sir, the rebels are approaching Qiaotou Town. You should immediately gather the soldiers and civilians in the city and prepare plenty of defense equipment, including gold juice, battering rams, and falling rocks. Send two more letters to the General of Jingzhou in Changde Prefecture and the Governor of Chenzhou Prefecture, requesting troops and assistance. Also, order the wealthy families in the city to donate money, food, and men to help defend the city."

After a professional reminded him, Zheng Yuanyun finally recovered and said, "Bei Shu (Chen Sanchen's pen name) is right. Let's do it!"

Less than two days later, the Han army marched south along the river from Qiaotou Town and soon arrived at Changsha City.

Inside the city wall, Zheng Yuanyun took a look and saw a sea of ​​red, with red flags with Chinese characters fluttering in the wind. In the rear, a huge and conspicuous commander's banner stood in the middle of the army formation.

"This... there must be at least tens of thousands of people, right?" Zheng Yuanyun's scalp tingled when he saw this. Fortunately, there was a chair under his butt, otherwise he would have collapsed to the ground on the spot.

The Han army suddenly arrived in tens of thousands, and even more vehicles and people seemed to be gathering behind them. Zheng Yuanjun, not a Han general, naturally couldn't tell the difference between the Han army's civilian laborers and regular soldiers. Even if he could, it would be useless. The Han army had already dressed the civilian laborers in red uniforms, aiming to exaggerate their own military strength and put pressure on the Qing troops in Changsha Prefecture.

The Han soldiers' goal was indeed achieved. Regardless of whether the officers and soldiers were terrified or not, Zheng Yuanyun and Chen Sanchen were really scared.

Zheng Yuanjun was shocked that tens of thousands of Han troops had arrived, and he was afraid that they were determined to capture Changsha Prefecture.

Chen Sanchen was better. He could see that the Han army might have used a strategy of feigning an invasion, but he did not dare to gamble, nor could he guess how many decoy troops the Han army had deployed, whether there were thousands or tens of thousands, or perhaps most of them were decoys.

When the Han army arrived at the city, they did not rush to attack the city, but set up camp on the spot, while cutting down trees, digging trenches, building artillery positions, and constructing camps.

Zheng Yuanjun did not relax because of this. Instead, he quickly summoned officials at all levels in the provincial capital. Even the two unrelated county governments of Changsha and Shanhua were summoned to a meeting.

What was the meeting about? Of course, it was about how to defend the city.

After discussing for a day and a night, Zheng Yuanyun set an example by not eating or drinking, while officials at all levels argued back and forth, but no one came up with any good ideas. They could only continue to recruit civilians, expand the garrison, and then wait for the Jingzhou general from Changde Prefecture to lead troops to rescue.

The wealthy and powerful families in Changsha Prefecture had learned a few days earlier that the Han army was approaching the city. Their reactions were quite interesting: the government asked them for money, food, and personnel, and they all provided them. However, none of them took the opportunity to move their property or flee the city; instead, they stayed inside.

If the government can defend Changsha, the Han army will be like a grasshopper in autumn and will not be able to jump for long.

If the government cannot defend Changsha, then the Han army will be able to gain the upper hand, and we can surrender with our money and gain some merit by following the emperor.

Even the money, food, and servants they provided were secretly kept as a backup. If the government could defeat the Han army, these servants of the wealthy families would naturally help the government soldiers kill the rebels, but if the government could not defeat the Han army, they would rise up in rebellion at any time and help the Han army outside.

A few days later, the Han army had nearly completed the excavation of the artillery batteries outside the city, and the artillery and supplies were basically in place. Meanwhile, the Changsha defenders, relying on donations from the city's wealthy gentry and the treasury's money and grain reserves, quickly expanded to several thousand men within a few days.

Compared with the tens of thousands of Han troops outside, there is definitely a gap, but it is barely enough to defend the city.

It doesn’t matter if we can’t win, as long as we can hold on, we can wait for reinforcements from Changde Prefecture to come and rescue us.

……

There are no reinforcements!

Changde Prefecture had been surrounded long ago.

A total of 8,000 Han troops followed Dongting Lake to the east of Changde Prefecture and landed at Niubi Beach.

Niubi Beach is located at the junction of Dongting Lake and the Yuan River. It is a small mudflat between the lake and the river. Fishermen and lake bandits live here. The identities of the two are not so distinct, and their roles can change back and forth according to the years of famine and harvest and the policies of the local government.

In a good year, they are fishermen; in a bad year, they are lake bandits.

If the government did not suppress the bandits, Dongting Lake would be flooded with bandits. If the government suppressed the bandits, the bandits in the lake would immediately disappear.

Just a few years ago, there was a bandit leader named Dong Shuyou who was too ambitious. He wanted to unify the pirates in Dongting Lake and become the king of the water. The governor of Hunan personally dispatched troops to suppress him.

Bai Nan led his troops south this time with only 8,000 Han soldiers. He was definitely not able to take down Changde Prefecture by force, but he had already pacified the bandits in Dongting Lake in advance.

He didn't use any special means, nor did he promise to confer official titles on anyone, as he didn't have the power to do so. He simply promised that once the Han army conquered Hunan, all the pirates willing to come ashore would be given land and settled there, and those who stayed ashore would also be exempted from taxes and would not have to bear the harsh and abusive policies of the Qing court.

It was a very simple request. Ever since the death of Dong Shuyou, the leader of the Dongting Lake bandits, the remaining bandits just wanted to live a peaceful life. They would even be happy if the government collected less taxes and let them become fishermen.

Unfortunately, the Qing government could not agree to this. If the pirates did not come ashore, the Qing government would not be able to sleep peacefully. But if the pirates came ashore, they would be like fish on the plate of the local officials, and they would be at the mercy of others.

The Miao people in western Hunan, Guizhou and Guizhou rebelled for this reason. These Qing officials not only increased taxes on the Miao people year after year, but also deliberately forced them to rebel in order to gain promotions for their achievements in suppressing the rebellion and converting the Miao people into Han people.

The water bandits were appeased by the Han army. Not only did they send out fishing boats to help the Han army transport supplies, they also directly cut off the external water network access of Changde Prefecture through the Yuanjiang River.

"Ahhh! Why is this happening? Why are even the water bandits helping the rebels? Are these water bandits going to rebel too?" Xing Zhao was almost going crazy.

Hu Wenquan, the prefect of Changde, had a blank expression on his face, but he was muttering in his heart, "They are all bandits now, and you still tell them whether they are rebelling or not, isn't that ridiculous?"
Xing Zhao vented his anger for a while before summoning his generals to the government hall for a meeting.

Defu, the deputy commander-in-chief under Xing Zhao, unfolded the map and said, "General, we've just seen outside the city. The Han army outside is less than 10,000 at most. They should all be coming from Lizhou in the north. With such a small force, it will be very difficult to capture Changde Prefecture."

"So what?" Xing Zhao asked subconsciously.

Defu raised his eyebrows and said, "So, the rebels are definitely not coming to attack Changde, but are deliberately distracting us."

"Distract attention?" Xing Zhao was a little confused.

Soon, he was no longer confused, because he followed Defu's finger and saw Changsha City in the east and Yuezhou Prefecture in the north of Changsha.

The two are too close. If the Han army in Lizhou can go through Dongting Lake to attack Changde, then there is no reason why the Han army in Yuezhou Prefecture cannot go through Dongting Lake to attack Changsha.

Once Changsha is gone, Changde and even the entire Hunan will be doomed!

(End of this chapter)