There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 168 Abandoning the City and Fleeing
Chen Wangzhi wanted to surrender, but he was also afraid that he would not have a good ending if he surrendered.

Because he was so greedy, he was so greedy that he "went down the list in history." Even the history books about the White Lotus Rebellion made a special entry for him, recording his "achievements" in forcing the people to rebel.

Chen Wangzhi had already cursed E Hui's ancestors for eighteen generations in his heart. It was all the fault of this new Governor-General of Huguang. It was all because this fellow ignored the actual situation in Hubei and insisted on carrying out some kind of downsizing and training.

That's an army of nearly 100,000!

Without considering the consequences, E Hui laid off most of the troops. Before the remaining new army could even be trained, the rebels attacked. These so-called new troops were even newer than newly recruited soldiers, and they had absolutely no chance to resist the rebels' attack.

"Lord Fantai, Lord Fantai?"

"Enough! The rebel army has already entered the southern part of the city, and the opposite bank of the Yangtze River is full of rebel warships. We are now in a predicament in Wuchang."

Chen Wangzhi waved to interrupt Zhang Zengyong, his face showing some fatigue as he spoke.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zengyong also became somewhat anxious and said, "Why does Governor Chen say such a thing? We still have several thousand elite troops at our disposal. The rebels have only just entered the city. We can rely on Snake Mountain to set up defenses and continue to fight the rebels while waiting for reinforcements."

"Reinforcements?"
Chen Wangzhi laughed: "Where are the reinforcements coming from? Are we counting on that idiot E Hui? That guy doesn't understand anything, he doesn't even understand the actual situation of the rebels, yet he dares to lead troops to launch a strong attack on the White Lotus Sect in Xiangyang. Does he really think that the Han traitors in Jingzhou don't exist?"

Zhang Zengyong paused, stunned by Chen Wangzhi's shocking words. How could a provincial governor openly criticize the governor-general, especially a Manchu governor-general? Wasn't he afraid of being impeached and impeached?

Chen Wangzhi was of course not afraid. What was there to be afraid of? The Han army had already entered Wuchang City, and Wuchang was about to fall. These people would all end up like him, none of them could escape. What was there to be afraid of in secret memorials and impeachments?

"Prefect Chen, if we don't wait for reinforcements, what else can we do? Do you expect us to surrender and become traitors?"

The one who asked the question was Wang Xichen, the Hubei Provincial Surveillance Commissioner who had remained silent until now. He had only taken office last year to fill the vacancy left by his predecessor.

To be honest, this was clearly not a lucrative position. Although it was the provincial inspector in charge of criminal justice in the entire province, Hubei was rife with rebels, so there was little hope of achieving any political accomplishments.

Wang Xichen's original plan was to keep working until the evaluation period was over, then immediately spend money to transfer himself away, anywhere would do, as long as he was far away from the rebels.

As a result, he had only been in office for less than a year when the rebels attacked. He hadn't even made enough money, and he didn't even have time to escape.

Chen Wangzhi was completely unconcerned about the deep resentment in Wang Xichen's words, and sneered, "Surrender? Why should we surrender? The silver that all of you have embezzled over the years is only enough to make a fortune in the Qing Dynasty. If it were any other country, even ten heads wouldn't be enough to cut off your wealth. You think you can surrender peacefully?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present frowned.

While it is true that everyone was greedy for money, it was also an unspoken rule in the Qing Dynasty's officialdom. If you weren't greedy, you would be considered an outsider and would be ostracized by your colleagues, or even impeached and framed.

But even though it's an unspoken rule, when it's actually spoken out, people still have their pride and will always feel embarrassed.

Wu Shengqin, the Hubei Provincial Education Commissioner, couldn't help but ask, "What exactly is Governor Chen trying to say?"

Chen Wangzhi said calmly, "The only hardship throughout history is death!"

Having said that, he disregarded the astonishment and surprise of the officials surrounding him, and went downstairs on his own, without even taking his personal guards, only taking an old attendant with him, and returned to the provincial governor's office.

Chen Wangzhi was determined to die, and the others, even if they wanted to curse him, were helpless at this point.

As for letting them defend the city, it's questionable whether they can command respect, let alone know how to defend it. It sounds easy—deploying defenses along Snake Mountain—but how exactly to deploy them? Without orders, who will bear the responsibility for unauthorized troop movements?

These Wuchang officials discussed and discussed, but couldn't come up with a solution. Some people did suggest feasible solutions, but the problem was that no one was willing to take the blame!

They are not Chen Wangzhi. At least Chen Wangzhi had the temporary authority to mobilize troops granted by the governor, but they did not.

That afternoon.

The southern part of Wuchang has been largely cleared by the Han army.

Because of his low rank, and given that Wuchang was the provincial capital, the magistrate of Jiangxia County, as a county magistrate attached to the provincial capital, had virtually no real power or presence, and was not qualified to curry favor with his superiors at the Yellow Crane Tower. Therefore, upon seeing the Han army entering the city, he didn't even consider fleeing; he immediately slid down and surrendered.

The magistrate of Jiangxia County surrendered voluntarily, which helped the Han army quickly stabilize the security and order of the southern city. At the same time, he also sold out all the military intelligence and information of Wuchang City to the Han army.

Having spent several years in Wuchang, he knew the city's terrain and defenses like the back of his hand. He also knew all about E Hui's plans for reducing and training new soldiers and his campaign against Xiangyang, including the necessary provisions, supplies, and laborers.

Yang Fang now understood why the military defenses of Hanyang and Wuchang were so weak. This newly appointed Governor-General of Huguang is doing a great job!

There's nothing wrong with cutting old and weak soldiers, but doing so at such a critical moment greatly diluted the army's organization, leaving the Qing army with insufficient direct manpower and chaotic command and mobilization.

In addition, E Hui also placed Huiling and Chengde under house arrest. Although these two were incompetent in battle, they had at least led troops and knew some basic military knowledge.

If you put these two under house arrest and don't leave a capable general to oversee the city, it would be a miracle if you could even hold it!
……

The next day.

The Han army rested for only one night in the southern city before it was eager to launch its attack.

Yang Fang personally led 3,000 infantrymen to launch a strong attack on Snake Hill Drum Tower, hoping to seize Yellow Crane Tower from there and capture the northern district of Wuchang Prefecture.

Three thousand infantrymen may not seem like much, about the same as the remnants of the Qing army in the north of the city, but it was still quite a lot.

The Han army's forces crossing the river to the east this time were actually not many, totaling only two divisions, or nearly 20,000 men, including 10,000 land troops and more than 8,000 naval troops.

The division-level organization was just finalized before returning to Jingzhou this year, because the Han army has already grown quite large. The total strength of the land division has reached more than 50,000, and including artillery, supply, civilian troops, etc., there are more than 60,000 miscellaneous troops. The navy, which is also preparing to expand, also has a separate organization.

The original military commander position was clearly no longer sufficient, and with so many officers and generals under his command making meritorious contributions in battle, they would eventually need to be promoted. He couldn't just get rich without getting promoted, could he?

The division-level organization was established under the Army Command... no, it should now be called the Han Army Command. After discussions among the officials of the Han Army Command, and after reporting to the General for personal decision-making, it was finally decided to use the six divisions of the Zhou Dynasty emperor as the designation, and to add a new army organization as a division, with a strength of about 10,000 soldiers per division.

The Han army's total organization consists of six divisions, five of which are land divisions, namely the First Division, the Second Division, and so on up to the Fifth Division. Future expansions will follow the same naming convention. The navy currently has only one division, namely the First Naval Division, which is independent of the land divisions.

Bai Nan, Chen Younian, He Shunan, and Xu Sanlang were all promoted as meritorious generals.

He Shunan was promoted to commander of the First Division. Including his own division, he now commanded 10,000 troops, and could finally rightfully call himself a general.

Bai Nan was promoted to commander of the Second Division, and including his own division, he now commands 10,000 troops.

Chen Younian was promoted to commander of the Third Division.

Xu Sanlang was promoted to commander of the Fourth Division.

The Fifth Division of the Army and the First Division of the Navy are still under the direct command of General Nie. This is not some messed-up central army model that Nie Yu is trying to create, nor does he need to rely on such a model to consolidate his power and control his generals.

The military academy's structure prevented officers from interfering with personnel and logistics, and during military training, it fostered a strong sense of personal worship. He had long since consolidated military power in the Han army.

Although Bai Nan, Chen Younian, and others were all veteran generals, seemingly capable of leading a division and commanding tens of thousands of troops, the actual troop training, pay distribution, rewards, and pensions were not under their control. In addition, with radios providing real-time remote control, Nie Yu held the reins of the Han army's core weapon supply, compressed rations, salt, and sugar distribution channels.

Factions may still exist within the military, which is inevitable. Differences in dialects and regions will certainly lead to factionalism. However, it is almost impossible for military generals to establish warlordism and for soldiers to be owned by their generals.

Soldiers belong to their generals, and there must be benefits to be gained from them. If there are no benefits, how can soldiers be expected to follow you and risk their lives to rebel?
Of the three thousand Han soldiers led by Yang Fang, one thousand were from Guizhou and the other two thousand were from Jingzhou. His command was attached to the Fifth Division, which was essentially under the direct command of the Grand General. As a surrendered general, this rank was already highly regarded, although it might be lower than his original garrison rank, but who cared?

Yang Fang believed that the Han army had a good chance of winning the country, or at the very least, they could divide the country along the Yangtze River. He was now preoccupied with taking Wuchang first, then conquering Hubei for the Han army, and ideally, killing the Governor-General of Huguang, E Hui.

Even if the Han army ultimately loses and he cannot become a founding hero, he should at least leave a significant mark on history.

"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

With the continuous sounding of bugles, Yang Fang officially ordered a full-scale attack on the Snake Hill Drum Tower.

"Da da da da!" The vanguard of the Han army quickly formed a standard mandarin duck formation and pushed straight up the drum tower on the mountain.

Chen Wangzhi stood by the window of the Drum Tower, his eyes bloodshot, clearly having not slept all night. He immediately drew his sword and ordered, "Fire arrows! Shoot these rebels down the mountain to death!"

"Shhhhhh!"

Upon receiving the order, the Qing archers were already poised to attack.

A volley of arrows rained down, but it was of no use.

Because the vanguard of the Han soldiers all carried shields, and the battle formation they used was the Mandarin Duck Formation, which was specifically designed for narrow mountain terrain. It would be difficult to deal with cavalry on plains or large armies, but this segmented attack on the mountain was like adding wings to a tiger.

The Qing army's arrows were not very accurate to begin with, and most of the arrows that hit the Han soldiers' vanguard shields were hit. Occasionally, stray arrows would be deflected by the soldiers' stab-proof vests.

"Keep firing! Stop them!"

"Shhhhhh!"

The arrows rained down wave after wave, but to say the effect was minimal was that they were completely useless.

After the Qing archers finished firing a volley of arrows, they all got smart and realized that they couldn't win anyway, and they couldn't hold out.

It would be better to just sit back and wait for the rebels to attack, then quickly kneel down and surrender; saving your own life is the most important thing.

Seeing that the arrows were ineffective, Chen Wangzhi didn't dwell on it and immediately ordered, "Quickly use falling rocks and rolling logs!"

To be honest, this civil official may not be very good at fighting, but he has read quite a few military books and knows how to fight a basic defensive battle.

The Qing soldiers were in a flurry of activity, carrying stones and logs that they had already prepared, ready to throw them down the mountain to the Han soldiers.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Han army's mortars fired first.

In this mountainous terrain, mortars are perfectly suited for supporting infantry attacks.

The first salvo fired solid shot.

Dozens of shells were fired, but the actual hit rate was very low because they were projectiles launched from below and were not explosive shells with a wide area of ​​destructive power.

"Run! The rebels have opened fire!"

Despite the fact that not a single Qing soldier had died and there was no sign of artillery fire at the Qing army's defensive positions on the mountain, the Qing soldiers in the positions still fled at the sound of artillery fire.

The morale of the army had collapsed. The Qing army was all going through the motions, doing nothing and shirking their duties. They were just low-ranking soldiers, and the rebels wouldn't make things difficult for them no matter what.

The Han army's position collapsed as soon as they fired their cannons.

What the hell is this?

Upon hearing the cannon fire, the Qing soldiers on the position fled in panic. Chen Wangzhi, his eyes bloodshot with rage, roared, "Supervisory team, advance! Those who retreat in fear will be executed without mercy!"

Immediately, a squad of personal guards rushed forward, hacking and slashing at the fleeing Qing soldiers, shouting as they did so:

"Everyone retreat to your positions!"

"Halt! No retreating! Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed without mercy!"

No use.

Because the Qing troops in Wuchang, including these supervisory teams, were all recruited by Governor Huiling himself.

Although the army had been formed for a year, there was very little actual training, almost none. All the money that could have been used for training was divided up by the officials in Wuchang.

Do you think it’s outrageous?

But that's just how reality is. Otherwise, how do you think the White Lotus Rebellion, a motley crew of religious fanatics and a bunch of peasants, managed to fight against hundreds of thousands of government troops for ten years and even manage to go toe-to-toe?

They successfully tore away the last fig leaf covering the so-called Kangxi and Qianlong golden age.

It can be said that the Qing army under Chen Wangzhi's command, although wearing uniforms and following the designations given by the local Green Standard Army, could have been trained into a decent fighting force if given more time, given more time.

Unfortunately, he ran out of time, and so did Chen Wangzhi, as the Han army attacked directly.

The Qing army now is a bunch of new recruits, or to put it bluntly, a rabble. To use them as a regular army is a joke.
As soon as the supervisory team stepped forward, before they had killed a few deserters, other deserters reacted immediately, drew their swords, and slashed back.

In the blink of an eye, the deserters from the Qing army's position were locked in fierce fighting with the personal guards sent out by Chen Wangzhi to supervise the battle.

These deserters were all new recruits, and they didn't know what respect was. All they knew was that their superiors had sent a bunch of idiots to kill them and send them back to find the rebels to die.

Why be polite? Grab a knife and get him!
"Rebellion! Rebellion! They've all rebelled! Kill them all! I will defend Snake Mountain to the death, I will defend Wuchang to the death! Hahahaha!"

Chen Wangzhi roared, his eyes bloodshot, looking like a madman.

Wang Xichen, Wu Shengqin, Zhang Zengyong, and the others around him exchanged a few glances.

Wang Xichen suddenly said, "Your Excellency, given the current situation, we should immediately abandon Snake Mountain and retreat to the North City to make further plans!"

"Cut this traitor down too!" Chen Wangzhi pointed at Wang Xichen, who was speaking.

No, you can just turn your back on me like that?
Chen Wangzhi's personal guards looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

Killing those deserters earlier is one thing, they were all deserters. But Wang Xichen is the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Hubei, only one rank lower than Chen Wangzhi, and he's a civil official. How can we just mess with him like that?

Seeing that Wang Xichen seemed about to get angry, Wu Shengqin quickly interjected to smooth things over, saying, "Your Excellency, why must you be like this? Governor Wang is only concerned because he sees the situation is not good. If we continue to stay at Snake Mountain Drum Tower, it will surely be captured by the rebels. We should..."

"That traitor should be beheaded too!"

Chen Wangzhi didn't even give Wu Shengqin a chance to finish speaking. After he finished, he pointed around and pointed at everyone he could reach: "You, and you all, are all traitors, all deserving of death! All worthy of death!"

"Where are my personal guards? Immediately execute all these traitors! I will defend Snake Mountain to the death and live or die with Wuchang!"

Damn, this guy's really gone mad!
Chen Wangzhi had gone mad, but the others couldn't go mad with him, so they ignored his opinions. They simply had their personal guards grab Chen Wangzhi, disarm him, and flee down the mountain.

These people wouldn't dare surrender, because they all have families. Besides, the Han army of only one province isn't enough to make local officials like them willingly submit.

For them to submit, they'd need at least half the country, or at the very least, a third of the land—something comparable to Wu Sangui's territory back in the day. Only then would they be willing to abandon their families and gamble on a future of wealth and power.

These civil officials from Wuchang Prefecture carried the mad Chen Wangzhi on their backs and fled in panic down Snake Mountain.

Instead of going to the Yellow Crane Tower, they fled along Wusheng Avenue at the foot of the mountain, ignoring the thousands of Qing soldiers fighting on the mountain, and headed straight for Wusheng Gate.

These cowardly fools finally gave up all hope and prepared to abandon the city and flee.

As for who will bear the responsibility for the loss of land and city after the city is abandoned?

Why do you think they carried the insane Chen Wangzhi along?

(End of this chapter)