There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 161 We Cross the River to Attack Hanyang

The second year of the Jiaqing reign.

Let's first talk about the changes in the global situation.

In the first month of this year, Napoleon defeated the Austrian army at the Battle of Rivoli, successfully dismantling the First Coalition against France and laying the foundation of prestige for his future consolidation of military and political power and the establishment of the First French Empire.

In February, the British Navy inflicted a major defeat on the Spanish Navy in Portuguese waters, seizing the strategic initiative in the Mediterranean and forcing the Franco-Spanish alliance to make strategic concessions.

In March, US President Washington officially stepped down and ceased to serve as president, while Kaiser Wilhelm I, who was about to unify the German Empire, was born in Berlin, Prussia.

Before we knew it, it was early May.

At the same time that Napoleon conquered Venice during his eastern expedition, E Hui had just defeated 200,000 White Lotus rebels in Xiangyang, killing and capturing tens of thousands of bandits.

"The White Lotus Sect in Xiangyang is gone." Nie Yu put down the secret letter sent from Dangyang.

The two counties of Dangyang and Yuan'an in Jingmen Prefecture had already changed their flags to those of the Han army. The instructors Liu Xiushi and Xi Yunfeng were appointed as magistrates of Dangyang and Yuan'an, while Zhu Guangdian and Chen Deben were appointed as county lieutenants.

Peng Yanqing, who was writing "The Story of Refuge in Dangyang", was also appointed as the assistant magistrate of Dangyang County by the Han army and stayed in Dangyang County to advise Liu Xiushi and serve as his advisor.

Liu Jun took the secret letter, read it for a while, and then handed it to Wang Ruoyu.

Feng Xiuyong and Zuo Guanlan did not return with them this time; they were left to oversee the affairs of Changsha and Hengzhou respectively.

Changsha, as the capital of Hunan Province, controls the Xiangjiang River network and holds a vital strategic position. Therefore, it is essential to have a high-ranking Han military official in charge, as Xie Yanchen, a newly arrived prefect of Changsha, cannot manage the situation.

Hengzhou is similar; after all, it was the capital of Wu Sangui's reign, known as "Dingtianfu," and its strategic importance is no less than that of Changsha. Moreover, Guiyang in the south produces silver, so sending Zuo Guanlan to supervise the banking bureau and handle land redistribution and silver smelting in Hengzhou would be a good opportunity for him to gain experience.

The strategically important Changde Prefecture to the west has been handed over to his cousin Nie Lin. Since they are all family members, there shouldn't be any major problems.

After reading the secret letter in his hand, Wang Ruoyu smiled and said, "The White Lotus Sect in Xiangyang is gone. It seems our magistrate of Dangyang County is a bit anxious."

Liu Jun said, "It's understandable that they're anxious. When the White Lotus Sect was in Xiangyang, even if their fighting strength was weak, they still had 200,000 troops at their disposal, which could help them hold off the Qing army. But now, all 200,000 White Lotus Sect troops have been easily defeated by the newly appointed Governor-General of Huguang with only 20,000 soldiers. Next up is Jingmen. If they're not panicking, who is?"

They were all capable of daring to rebel. The White Lotus sect in Dangyang might have been more subservient and courteous to the Han army than the White Lotus sects in Xiangyang and Yichang. But no matter how subservient and courteous they were, they were still an independent rebel army, with their own petty thoughts and ambitions.

Despite the fact that the White Lotus Sect of Dangyang held the position of county magistrate in the Han army, they did not actually follow the Han army's land administration policies at all, nor did they accept the land allocation assistants sent by the Han army.

The White Lotus Rebels in Xiangyang and the Qing army were locked in a tug-of-war in Xiangfan. Meanwhile, the White Lotus Rebels in Dangyang maintained an ambiguous stance in Jingmen, playing both sides between Jingzhou Prefecture and the White Lotus Rebels in Xiangyang.

He was both the magistrate of Dangyang County, leading the Han army, and a charlatan appointed by the White Lotus Sect in Xiangyang. A typical opportunist and fence-sitter!

Liu Jun said, "The two counties of Dangyang and Yuan'an have submitted to the south, which can be agreed to, since the two counties are nominally under the jurisdiction of our Han army. The magistrates of Dangyang and Yuan'an can also be forgiven for their past actions and continue to be rewarded for their contributions, but they cannot be given important positions in the future."

Lin Wenchang frowned and asked, "After taking over Dangyang and Yuan'an counties, our Han army will be bordering the puppet Qing. What should we do then?"

Wang Ruoyu shook his head: "It's different. Lin is in charge! The White Lotus Sect in Xiangyang has already collapsed. Whether we want these two counties or not, this new governor of the pseudo-Qing has no rivals in Hubei. The next step can only be to turn our attention to us. Because he is not the incompetent governor Huiling of the past. He is the governor of Huguang sent by the Qing court. If we allow the rebels to run rampant and grow stronger, the Qing court will not let him off the hook."

Liu Jun nodded: "I agree with Commander Wang's view. Since the White Lotus Sect in Xiangyang can no longer be stopped, a battle between us and the Qing army is inevitable. The intelligence from Huizhou reports that the Governor-General and the Commander-in-Chief of Huguang are both Manchus from the Eight Banners. So it's time to send them the heads we've been preparing to store for almost a year, hehe!"

Since the Han army began its uprising, it has stored thousands of heads in cellars, all of which were "voluntarily" donated by Manchus with money rat tails and sky-reaching patterns.

With so many heads being sent to E Hui as a greeting gift, the Han army didn't believe E Hui could resist. Even if he could, it wouldn't matter, because the longer it dragged on, the more advantageous it would be for the Han army.

In the territory under Han control, the regular army had trained 50,000 troops, in addition to organized artillery, musket, grenadier, and crossbowmen. The firearms workshops were producing cannons and muskets almost every day.

The brand-new wire-drawing machine, despite still having various problems, has already been put into mass production by the Han army.

Steam-powered rifling is much faster and more standardized than manual rifling.

If the Qing army dared to delay, even for a little longer, the Han army could replace all the flintlock musketeers with rifled musketeers.

The emergence of rifled flintlock muskets in organized units was a devastating blow to the Qing army, which was still stuck in the era of smoothbore matchlock muskets!
Nie Yu also asked the craftsmen at the cannon foundry to carefully consider whether they could improve the design by applying a steam engine to the cannon's rifling.

Wang Ruoyu echoed, "I also agree with Commander Liu's idea to send all the Eight Banner heads we have accumulated to that new governor of the puppet Qing. If the other side is provoked and fights us, our Han army can easily sweep away the mere 20,000 Qing troops. As long as this new governor of the puppet Qing suffers a major defeat in Hubei, the strategic initiative will fall into our hands. It's even uncertain whether the puppet Qing chieftain Qianlong will continue to trust this new governor."

Why do you say that?

It's very simple. Emperor Qianlong was already very old, almost 87 years old. It's simply unbelievable that he could live to such an old age in ancient times.

Emperor Qianlong was aware that his lifespan was limited. Since the beginning of this year, he had noticed that his hearing was failing and that he was having difficulty writing with both hands. This was why he was so anxious, even going so far as to place his hopes on evil spells and incantations from the Western Regions to curse and kill Nie Yu, who was causing quite a stir in Hunan.

Emperor Qianlong was genuinely afraid that if he were to suddenly pass away one day, there would still be rebellions in the provinces.

Even if his son, Emperor Jiaqing, quells the rebellion, the Qianlong era of prosperity will be over. What the final verdict will be a hundred years from now is anyone's guess!
Speaking of which, if Emperor Qianlong knew that Emperor Jiaqing had given him the temple name Gaozong, would he be so angry that he would come back to life?

After pondering for a long time, Nie Yu said, "We can send their heads as a grand gift to our new Governor-General of Huguang. We also need to prepare a plan for our next military campaign. If the Qing army marches south, we will fight them to the death. If the Qing army doesn't march south, then... we will cross the river and attack Hanyang!"

(End of this chapter)