There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 163 Choice
Since it was an open conspiracy, E Hui and Ming Liang, being veterans, naturally understood it.

But figuring it out is useless; it doesn't help me break the move!
The Han army is now relying on its well-equipped troops and the Qing army's lack of preparation. The governor is also newly appointed and cannot engage in a direct battle with the Han army. Therefore, he can only make a choice.

Should we defend Wuchang or Xiangyang?

E Hui didn't have many options. He could only prioritize protecting Xiangyang, since his main force had already arrived there and had just defeated and driven out the White Lotus rebels. It was clearly too late to turn back and rescue Wuchang now, and if he was unlucky, he might even have to collide head-on with the main Han army.

E Hui was no fool. Even Ming Liang, a veteran who had been on the battlefield for decades and had personally experienced the Battle of Western Hunan, could tell him that the Han army could remain calm in the face of battle. The Han army's cannons also had longer barrels than theirs, and seemed to be completely unafraid of exploding. They also shot farther and were more powerful than their cannons.

These two points alone deserve E Hui's full attention.

Xiangyang Prefectural Government Office.

Mingliang pointed to the map and said, "It's definitely too late to rush to Wuchang's aid. We might even run into the main force of the rebels. In that case, we'll have to fight a decisive battle, even if we don't want to. If we lose, not only will we lose Wuchang, but we'll also lose Xiangyang. Then the rebels will truly have an overwhelming advantage and can go anywhere in the world."

After pondering for a while, E Hui sighed and said, "Then we have no choice but to take a gamble and prioritize protecting Xiangyang. Xiangyang is surrounded by mountains on the east, west, and south sides, and Fancheng is on the north bank. It is located at the confluence of three rivers (Han River, Tangbai River, and Xiaoqing River), and its terrain is strategically important. Therefore, it has always been an impregnable city. If we can protect Xiangyang, Hubei will not fall into complete chaos."

Although the economic center of China gradually shifted southward from the Tang and Song dynasties onward, and Wuchang slowly replaced Xiangyang as the main town in Hubei, it is still said that the strategic importance of Hubei and Hunan, in terms of the whole country, lies in Xiangyang.

The loss of Wuchang is a huge problem.

The loss of Xiangyang is an even bigger problem!
Mingliang knew that E Hui had made a difficult decision, and comforted him, saying, "We will defend Xiangyang to the death, and we don't need to worry that Wuchang will fall in one fell swoop. Wuchang and Hanyang are separated by the river. If the rebels want to attack, they can only do so quickly. We have tens of thousands of soldiers left behind in both Wuchang and Hanyang. Even if these soldiers are not very strong, they should be able to defend the cities without any problems."

E Hui nodded: "That's the only way. Immediately write a letter... no, I will write one myself and give it to Chen Wangzhi, the Hubei Provincial Treasurer, instructing him to defend Wuchang at all costs. It doesn't matter if Hanyang is lost, as long as Wuchang is still there, we can still fight. Once I have trained my army well, and we can wait until the tax revenue is delivered in the second half of this year, we can send out the entire army to fight the rebels to the death!"

The idea was good, but everything was based on the premise that the Han army would not be able to take Wuchang and Hanyang in the short term.

……

In terms of area, Wuchang was much smaller than Xiangyang, at most one-third the size of Xiangyang.

Because the Wuhan of later generations was formed by the merger of three cities: Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankou. Wuchang was a military stronghold, Hankou was a commercial port, and Hanyang was special because it was an industrial center, an industrial economic zone established after the Self-Strengthening Movement and the revitalization of the nation through industry.

There's still no concrete plan for the Hanyang Ironworks, and Nie Yu has no intention of building one in Hanyang.

The Hanyang Ironworks was built in the late Qing Dynasty solely to meet the needs of the railway and to facilitate the purchase of coal nearby. Otherwise, the ironworks would have been built in Daye, not in Hanyang Prefecture.

Chen Wangzhi sat listlessly atop the Yellow Crane Tower, gazing across the river at the rebel warships.

The Yellow Crane Tower was built on Snake Hill in Wuchang. It was originally built by Sun Quan during the Three Kingdoms period to monitor both sides of the Yangtze River. He built Xiakou City (Wuchang) and constructed a military tower on Huanghuji in the southwest corner of the city for observation and defense, which is the Yellow Crane Tower.

During the Liu Song Dynasty, the name Yellow Crane Tower first appeared in Zu Chongzhi's "Records of Strange Things" (yes, the same Zu Chongzhi who calculated pi).

The Yellow Crane Tower was repeatedly rebuilt and destroyed. The most recent reconstruction was sixty years ago by Shi Yizhi, the Governor-General of Huguang. Emperor Qianlong also personally inscribed the four characters "Jianghan Xianzong" on the horizontal plaque of the Yellow Crane Tower and placed the poem stele "Bai Sui Shoumin Wu Guorui Si Shi Yi Tang" in front of the tower.

In the past, when Hubei officials like Chen Wangzhi came here, they would have paid great respect to Emperor Qianlong's poetic talent.

But now, who has the mind to worship the Emperor Emeritus's worthless poetic talent!

The rebel warships were gathered in large numbers on the river. So many large ships converged on the Yangtze River and sailed all the way to the confluence of the three rivers, which was also the location of the prefectural cities of Wuchang and Hanyang.

"Your Excellency, with so many large ships, they must be the Han traitors of Jingzhou. We should find a way to defend the city as soon as possible."

The speaker was Zhang Zengyong, the prefect of Wuchang. He shouldn't have had the right to speak, but Wuchang was currently deserted.

The governor of Hubei, Huiling, and the commander of the Manchu city of Jingzhou, Chengde, have both been placed under house arrest and stripped of power by E Hui, and are awaiting an imperial edict to be sent to the capital for trial.

Chen Wangzhi glanced at Zhang Zengyong, forcibly suppressing the urge to curse: "What brilliant idea does Prefect Zhang have?"

Zhang Zengyong immediately said, "I wouldn't call it a brilliant idea, but I think we should immediately conscript soldiers and laborers and gather them all together. We should be able to form an army of tens of thousands. We should also send a secret messenger to the prefect of Hanyang to order Hanyang to also conscript a large army. Then the two prefectures can join forces and launch a surprise attack on the rebels' warships before they have a firm foothold. We will surely defeat the rebels!"

It would have been better if he hadn't listened; after hearing it, Chen Wangzhi's blood pressure soared. Assembling the armies of both prefectures to launch a surprise attack on the rebels—it sounded easy, but it was incredibly difficult to do.

The actual situation in Wuchang and Hanyang was that there were no soldiers left, and no soldiers available for combat. All the veterans were either taken away by E Hui or dismissed and trained by E Hui's orders.

If they were to actually assemble, they would all be new recruits, or old and weak soldiers who hadn't been weaned off yet, and they wouldn't be able to fight at all.

Chen Wangzhi ignored Zhang Zengyong's theoretical discussions and gazed at the warships on the river for a long time, still at a loss. He then gave the order: "First, conscript able-bodied men from the city to prepare for the defense. Also, prepare plenty of oil, fuel, and boulders for the defense. Furthermore, send a small boat to cross the river under cover of darkness to inform Zhang Wuwei, the prefect of Hanyang, so that he can make preparations in advance. At the same time, send men to keep a close watch on the rebels on the river day and night. If there is any unusual activity, report it to me immediately."

After giving his instructions, Chen Wangzhi descended the Yellow Crane Tower, leaving behind Zhang Zengyong, the prefect of Wuchang, who still wanted to say more, and the Hubei Provincial Surveillance Commissioner and the Hubei Provincial Education Commissioner, who had remained silent throughout, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Meanwhile, the Han army sailed down the river to Wuchang without encountering any resistance or obstruction along the way.

Even in Jiayu County, which was the first to pass through along the river, the magistrate of Jiayu County remained holed up in the county town the whole time, pretending not to know that Han army warships were passing by, and did not even send a messenger to inform them.

Nie Yu personally led a large army to the expedition. Seeing this, he did not hold back and launched a large-scale landing that very day, occupying the Hanyang Wharf to set up camp.

Without waiting for Chen Wangzhi's report, Zhang Wuwei, the prefect of Hanyang, immediately conscripted soldiers and laborers to climb the city walls to defend against the Han army's attack.

Throughout the day, the Han army did not attack the city; they simply set up camp and cut down trees to build siege weapons.

Zhang Wuwei dared not be negligent, especially since he received a secret letter from Chen Wangzhi that night, knowing that the Provincial Governor was also in danger of losing his own life in the short term, and could only do his best to protect himself first.

The Han army continued to transport troops and supplies, built camps and siege equipment at the Hanyang wharf, and completely ignored the Qing army in Hanyang.

Zhang Wuwei was able to remain calm at first, but in the following days, he suddenly discovered that the Han army had begun transporting cannons. Not to mention the long-barreled red-coated cannons, several siege cannons had also appeared.

Those siege cannons, even the lightest of them weighed over 4 tons, three times heavier than ordinary red-coated cannons. Zhang Wuwei had never seen such large cannons in his life.

"Your Excellency, a messenger has arrived from Hanyang Prefecture!"

"Bring him here."

Chen Wangzhi immediately summoned the man, who appeared to be a scholar. Upon seeing Chen Wangzhi, the man cried out for help: "Your Excellency, save us! If you do not send troops, the city of Hanyang will be in grave danger!"

Chen Wangzhi was still climbing the Yellow Crane Tower to observe the enemy situation on the river. Because it was too far away, he could only vaguely see the opposite bank of the river. It seemed that the rebels had set up camp at the Hanyang Wharf. This made him feel relieved, but at the same time, he was terrified.

If Hanyang Prefecture is captured by the rebels, then Wuchang and Xiangyang will be divided in two, which would be equivalent to Hubei being cut in half by the rebels.

Chen Wangzhi dared not think any further and could only force himself to remain calm as he asked, "What happened? Is there any unusual activity by the rebels?"

The man replied, "Reporting to Your Excellency, I am Hou Zhiyuan, a staff advisor to the Prefect. My main responsibility is to offer advice and suggestions to the Prefect and to help him relieve his frustrations..."

"Stop, stop, stop, let's get down to business."

Chen Wangzhi quickly waved his hand and asked, "What exactly happened in Hanyang? What unusual activity has the rebels made?"

Upon hearing this, the clerk named Hou Zhiyuan said, "It's cannons. The rebels have brought in a lot of cannons. Many of them are cannons that my magistrate has never seen in his life. They say they are bigger than the Red Coat Cannons, at least several times bigger."

"Are you kidding me? There's no such thing as a cannon that big!" Zhang Zengyong exclaimed in disbelief.

Chen Wangzhi was silent for a moment, then asked, "Do the rebels really have such a big cannon?"

Master Hou nodded hurriedly: "It's absolutely true. I saw it with my own eyes. The cannon barrel was particularly large and long. There were at least a dozen or twenty rebels pushing the cannon cart."

Upon hearing this confirmation from the advisor, Chen Wangzhi had a sudden feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

(End of this chapter)