There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 186 The Scorched Earth Method

Sichuan.

Just as the Han army was fighting fiercely in Hubei, the Qing army in Dongxiang, Dazhou, had just suffered a huge defeat.

Ying Shan, the former governor of Sichuan, had already been dismissed from his post three months earlier by an imperial edict from Emperor Qianlong due to his ineffective suppression of bandits.

Yi Mian, the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu who went south to assist in the war, took the opportunity to concurrently serve as the Governor-General of Sichuan. He joined forces with General Guan Cheng of Chengdu and others, as well as Luo Siju, the local militia leader from Dongxiang, to take charge of the military affairs of suppressing bandits in Sichuan.

This Luo Siju was very capable. Before the White Lotus Rebellion broke out in Dongxiang, he was just a homeless vagrant who couldn't even get enough to eat. Upon hearing about the White Lotus Rebellion, he immediately saw it as a good opportunity to make a name for himself and joined the local militia in Zhangjiaba.

As early as the beginning of the White Lotus Rebellion in Sichuan, Luo Siju saw that the rebels were a motley crew with unstable internal foundations. He believed that if a few hundred daredevils could take advantage of the rebels' arrogance and complacency to launch a night attack, they would surely be able to defeat the rebels decisively.

Unfortunately, Luo Dingguo, a Qing general at the time, did not heed his advice.

Although it was later realized that this was feasible, it was too late; the White Lotus sect in Sichuan had already gained considerable influence.

Just this May.

Yi Mian, the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu and concurrently the Governor-General of Sichuan, adopted Luo Siju's strategy of avoiding the enemy's strength and attacking their weakness, and launched a surprise attack on the White Lotus Sect's camp.

Luo Siju personally led the local militia of Dongxiang County to raid the camp at night in Fengqingshan, successfully defeating the combined forces of Wang Sanhuai and Xu Tiande. Afterwards, the rebel army suffered successive defeats at Lujiaozhai and Huajingba, and was besieged by Bao Xing, the general of Hezhou Town in Shaanxi Province, and finally retreated all the way to Baixiushan, which was heavily surrounded.

The situation was becoming increasingly dire, with the rebel army running out of ammunition and food.

But it happened in early June.

The leaders of the Xiangyang rebels, including Wang Cong'er, Yao Zhifu, and Fan Renjie, successfully shook off the Qing army's pursuit, then crossed the Han River and entered Sichuan in three routes.

The left and right routes joined Luo Qiqing's troops of the Bazhou righteous army at Tongjiang, Fangshanping, and Luojiazhai in Bazhou, while the central route joined Xu Tiande and Wang Sanhuai at Taiping, Chengkou, and Dongxiang.

June 23rd.

Around the same time that the Han army defeated E Hui's troops, Wang Cong'er and Yao Zhifu led the Xiangyang militia in an ambush from the dense forests of the mountains, launching a surprise attack on the Qing army that was besieging them.

The Qing army had already besieged the Sichuan rebels and was at the height of their arrogance and complacency, which was also when they were most relaxed in their vigilance. They never expected that a rebel army would suddenly attack from behind.

The Qing army's defenses collapsed rapidly. Xu Tiande and Wang Sanhuai, who were besieging Baixiu Mountain, seized the opportunity and led their troops out to join forces with the righteous armies of Xiangyang and Bazhou. Together, they decisively defeated the Qing army.

Yimian was defeated and fled, and Luo Siju, the leader of the Dongxiang militia, took advantage of the chaos to break through the encirclement.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Sichuan and Hubei rebel armies joined forces at Baixiu Mountain. The leaders of the various rebel armies met there to discuss and agree on the banner of the allied forces, and re-established official positions such as manager, marshal, vanguard, general, and centurion.

According to the original rules, Wang Sanhuai and Leng Tianlu of Dongxiang were still called the Dongxiang White Army, and Zhang Zicong, Tuo Xiangyao, Fu Yueming, Liu Chaoxuan, Tang Sijiao, Zhang Tong, Luo Yuanheng, Luo Qidao and other leaders and vassals were also present.

Xu Tiande, the leader of Dazhou, called it the Dazhou Qinghao Army.

Long Shaozhou, the leader of the Taiping Rebellion, called the Taiping Yellow Army.

Luo Qiqing, the leader of Bazhou, was the commander of the Bazhou White Army.

Ran Wenchou, the leader of Tongjiang, called the Tongjiang Blue Army.

Lin Lianggong, the leader of Yunyang, called the Yunyang Blue Army.

Gong Wenyu, the leader of Fengjie, called the Fengjie Green (Line) Army.

Wang Cong'er, Yao Zhifu, and other outsiders from Xiangyang naturally referred to themselves as the Xiangyang Yellow Army.

Others, Gao Junde and Zhang Tianlun, who also followed Wang Cong'er in breaking through into Sichuan, were renamed the Xiangyang White Army.

There was also Zhang Hanchao's rebel army, which was renamed the Xiangyang Blue Army.

The idea that these ten rebel armies would all elect Wang Cong'er of Xiangyang as their leader, leading them to overthrow the Qing dynasty, save the world, and restore their prosperous homeland is a bit far-fetched.

Even after the capital was united, it was still divided into ten groups of leaders. The rebel army from Xiangyang alone was divided into three parts, and they were not under each other's command.

The alliance between the Sichuan and Hubei rebel armies was, in effect, not a true alliance.

The rebels unanimously elected Wang Cong'er, but he was not given command authority. After the meeting, the rebels scattered again.

This gave the Qing army in Sichuan the opportunity to regroup and suppress the rebellion.

……

July of the same year.

Governor Yi Mian, who has retreated to Chengdu to rest and recuperate, is convening his staff and generals to discuss countermeasures.

Luo Siju cupped his hands and said, "Your Excellency, I am a local and familiar with the geography of Sichuan. I am willing to lead the Dongxiang militia to pursue and annihilate the White Lotus bandits in these vast mountains."

Yi Mian remained noncommittal after hearing this. He understood what the other party meant. Now that the White Lotus Sect of Sichuan and Hubei had merged, the original opportunity was unlikely to come again. They could only rely on their Han Chinese militia to slowly and painstakingly suppress them.

But this won't do. As the Manchu governor-general, Yi Mian was already under tremendous political pressure to allow local militias like Luo Siju to exist.

Preventing and controlling the Han people was the national policy of the Qing Dynasty, and no one could easily change it.

Luo Siju's current official rank is only seventh grade in the military camp, but the number of local militia under his command has reached tens of thousands.

What is this concept?

He was equivalent to a Qing army captain, whose actual military power was almost as great as that of a general.

It wasn't until Emperor Qianlong's death, when the White Lotus Rebellion was too powerful to be suppressed, that Emperor Jiaqing began to promote Luo Siju.

Yi Mian didn't speak, and Luo Siju understood what she meant, so he didn't say anything more.

The atmosphere became a bit cold.

Gong Jinghan, serving as the military advisor to the governor, then spoke up: "Your Excellency, I have something to say, but I don't know if I should."

Yi Mian nodded: "Mr. Gong, what brilliant ideas do you have?"

Gong Jinghan then took out a book from his pocket and handed it to Yi Mian: "Please take a look, Governor."

"The Treatise on Strengthening the Walls and Clearing the Fields?" Yi Mian asked, somewhat puzzled.

As I looked through it more closely, I found it increasingly feasible; every sentence hit the nail on the head.

Gong Jinghan continued, "Your Excellency, to put it bluntly, the Eight Banners and Green Standard Army of our Great Qing have become corrupt and unreliable. To think that we can rely on these people to suppress the rebels is nothing short of a pipe dream. But at the same time, we cannot do without them..."

The second half of the sentence was not said, but Yi Mian understood perfectly; it was simply that the court was not at ease.

Gong Jinghan continued, "Therefore, the only way to successfully wipe out the bandits is to implement a scorched-earth policy. Your Excellency can order the Governor-General of Sichuan to have these landlords and powerful families contribute money to build fortified strongholds to defend against the bandits' rampage."

"Why are the White Lotus bandits so powerful and difficult to control? Because they have become roving bandits, and the government troops have no way to deal with them. The government troops need supplies and time to mobilize, while the roving bandits can come and go as quickly as the wind, leaving the government troops exhausted."

"But the bandits are not without weaknesses. Their weakness is that they have no base of operations. They cannot obtain food and supplies from the common people and can only rely on robbing landlords and powerful families. Therefore, as long as the landlords and powerful families can avoid the bandits or can block them, the bandits will find it difficult to break through the landlords and obtain food and supplies. Over time, the bandits will find it difficult to continue."

"By fortifying the walls and clearing the fields, we can cut off the bandits' food supply, thus depriving them of their greatest advantage. Without the ability to move around, the bandits can only be surrounded and slaughtered by the government troops."

"At worst, we can exhaust the bandits and starve them to death in the mountains."

(End of this chapter)