There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 195 Evolution of the Situation

September of the second year of the Jiaqing reign.

The Han army captured the three cities of Youxian, Lingxian, and Chalingzhou, and the bandit leaders Yitiaolong and Chuangpotian were killed. Shajinwang, Chachihu, and Hunshimo scattered and fled, their whereabouts unknown, but most likely to Jiangxi. Mantianfei fled to Wugong Mountain, where he became an outlaw and a mountain bandit.

Changsha and Hengzhou were finally unified.

Although they captured mostly ruined cities, Ling County and Chaling Prefecture were relatively easy to deal with, but You County was practically abandoned, with very few people left and all the wealthy landowners killed, which made it easier for the Han army to divide up the land there.

This year, the Han army will continue to station troops in these two counties and one prefecture, while providing financial and logistical support for immigrants to help the area recover and rebuild, and also suppressing the remaining bandits and deserters.

It seems like a pure loss, but it's not an option to avoid losses. From Yichang in Hubei to Chaling Prefecture in Hunan, it all stems from the strategic considerations made by the Grand General's Office.

Yichang is a crucial node in the Yangtze River waterway leading into Sichuan. If this place is not controlled, the Han army and Sichuan will lose contact.

The White Lotus Rebellion in Sichuan and Hubei lacked a unified program, relying solely on a few doctrines to mislead the people into fighting independently, destined to fail. The Han army's Grand General's Office estimated that the White Lotus Rebellion in Sichuan and Hubei would only be rampant for a year or two at most, and would inevitably be no match for the Qing army. Therefore, they had to seize Yichang Prefecture first in order to decide whether to enter Sichuan based on the situation.

The situation in Chaling Prefecture is similar. It's not as simple as just being occupied by the King of Slaughter and having a corner missing from the map.

This area connects to Wugong Mountain, Luoxiao Mountain, and Wanyang Mountain, and can be used to defend against the Qing army from Jiangxi entering Hunan, serving as a southeastern barrier for Hunan.

Is it a joke to just hand over such an important strategic location to the Killing King and his gang?
Besides, the King of Killing All was trapped in Chaling and couldn't move, so he had lost his value in continuing to hold back the Qing army. What was the point of keeping him around?

Chaling Prefecture, Ling County, and You County were recovered, and the administrative divisions of Changsha and Hengzhou Prefectures were adjusted again.

Chaling Prefecture was downgraded to a county and renamed Chaling County because the area was too overpopulated, and occupying the prefecture's administrative space would not be good for the people.

Chaling County and Ling County were merged and placed under the jurisdiction of Hengzhou Prefecture, while You County remained under the jurisdiction of Changsha Prefecture.

This makes the zoning much more reasonable, as it is completely re-divided according to geographical area, saving a lot of trouble.

There's no need to worry about the people not adapting. The population of the three counties is almost dwindling, and the newcomers are all immigrants from Changsha and Hengzhou. It's a good time to re-establish the counties.

……

On the Qing court's side.

This year has been quite eventful. Zhangjia Agui, a renowned general whom Emperor Qianlong relied on very effectively and who also led the campaign to recover Xinjiang, passed away at the end of August due to illness at the age of eighty-one.

Emperor Qianlong, as the retired emperor, wept bitterly. Emperor Jiaqing, upon hearing the news of Agui's death, first sent an envoy to offer condolences and posthumously granted him the title of Grand Tutor. In September, he personally attended the funeral, bestowed upon him a state funeral, granted him the posthumous title "Wencheng," and allowed him to be enshrined in the Temple of Worthies.

Fukang'an, Agui, and several of Qianlong's most renowned generals were already mostly dead.

The false prosperity that Emperor Qianlong created out of arrogance is about to collapse.

In early September, a joint memorial submitted by Huiling and Chengde, who were under house arrest, along with a group of Wuchang officials, was delivered to the Grand Council, which was headed by Heshen.

The memorial was simple: it impeached Chen Wangzhi, the Provincial Governor of Hubei, for his reckless military campaigns that led to the loss of Wuchang and Hanyang, and that he deserved to be executed.

Perfect timing! Chen Wangzhi has gone mad, or perhaps he's truly insane. Even renowned doctors in Huangzhou Prefecture can't cure him in a short time, making it even easier to shift the blame.

Heshen, unusually, did not suppress the memorial; instead, he handed it to Emperor Qianlong for review as quickly as possible.

We don't know what Emperor Qianlong's reaction was, but that day, the palace of the retired emperor was filled with the crisp, melodious sound of various porcelain pieces shattering.

If this was the case in the capital of the Qing Dynasty, the local areas were not faring much better.

……

Early September.

Historically, this month, Zhong Miao of Guizhou was trapped in Nanlong and unable to escape due to the joint siege by Le Bao, the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, Ji Qing, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, and 100,000 Qing troops from western Hunan.

By this time, they should have been wiped out, and even the "Queen of the Miao Nü" Wang Acong was tricked and captured by Lebao.

In reality, due to the sudden rise of the Han army, Hunan was completely conquered in one fell swoop, and the 100,000-strong army in western Hunan was completely wiped out.

Le Bao was already in a difficult position to fight without the support of the Qing army in western Hunan. Then, several rebel armies from Baoqing, Yongzhou, and Guiyang took advantage of the fact that the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Ji Qing, was leading his army north to Guizhou to launch a surprise attack on the two provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Governor Ji Qing was greatly alarmed and was forced to hastily lead his troops south to fight the rebels.

Thus, without the help of two major forces, Le Baoquan relied entirely on his few thousand Guizhou soldiers to fight Zhong Miao's rebel army to a standstill.

In terms of combat strength, the Zhongmiao rebels could not defeat Lebao's government troops. However, since the Zhongmiao were classified as Miao people, they still had the basic skill of guerrilla warfare in the mountains. In addition, Wang Acong, the "female Miao king," was very insightful and knew to cooperate with the Han army and the Miao people in western Hunan to secretly purchase weapons and supplies.

At the end of last month, Le Bao made a careless mistake and suffered a huge defeat, losing not only his troops but also retreating back to Yunnan.

When Zhong Miao's rebel army besieged Guiyang Prefecture, the Guizhou Governor Feng Guangxiong was greatly alarmed and submitted two impeachment memorials in succession. He impeached Le Bao, the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, for his ineffective suppression of the rebels, and Ji Qing, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, for neglecting the Zhong Miao's corrupt practices in Guizhou.

……

The situation in Sichuan.

The Xiangyang White Army, led by Gao Junde and Zhang Tianlun, was relentlessly pursued and intercepted by the Qing army. With no way out, they bypassed Qipan Pass and jumped from Sichuan into Ningqiang Prefecture in Hanzhong Prefecture.

This terrified the prefect of Ningqiang. The governor had just led all his elite troops south, so how could the White Lotus rebels have managed to get to his Ningqiang?
The prefect of Ningqiang hurriedly sent a message to the prefect of Hanzhong, who was equally confused. Weren't the White Lotus rebels in Sichuan?

How did he end up in Hanzhong?

There was no other way but to send people to rescue Ningqiang while simultaneously rushing to Xi'an to fetch reinforcements.

It's unclear whether there were any reinforcements in Xi'an, but the Qing army from Shaanxi, which was pursuing the rebels, couldn't hold back any longer.

They originally came to surround and kill the rebels, so why did the rebels suddenly deviate from the expected strategy and go to attack their hometown of Shaanxi?
The pursuing Qing army from Shaanxi hastily changed course, abandoning other rebel forces and rushing to encircle and annihilate this White Banner rebel army.

Seeing the situation, the Xiangyang rebels led by Wang Cong'er and Yao Zhifu immediately seized the opportunity and joined forces with the rebels led by Li Quan and Zhang Hanchao. They detoured through the Daba Mountains in the southeast, and then split their forces to launch a strong attack in Xixiang and Yangxian counties of Hanzhong. With lightning speed, they crossed the Zhongnan Mountains and stormed into Fengxiang Prefecture.

The Xiangyang rebels marched along the Wei River, plundering Mei County and Zhouzhi, and their troops approached Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province. The governor of Shaanxi Province was terrified and hastily ordered a citywide curfew in Xi'an. At the same time, he rushed to Sichuan to seek help from Yi Mian, the governor-general of Shaanxi and Gansu Province.

……

This year can be described as a year of war, with the flames of war spreading beyond Hubei and Sichuan to Guizhou, Shaanxi, and Guangdong and Guangxi, where rebel armies have been rising up.

Even Jiangxi is not peaceful now. After killing off Wang and many other bandits, it's no surprise that they went to Jiangxi.

These bandits were naturally no match for the Han army, but Jiangxi was such a good place, a place where the cultural heritage of the Ming and Qing dynasties converged, and where literature flourished, which meant that martial virtue must have declined.

King Shajin had just been badly beaten by the Han army in Hunan, and then plunged headlong into the territory of the literati in Jiangxi.

As soon as this guy entered Jiangxi, he was immediately confronted by the Lotus Hall of Ji'an Prefecture.

During the Qing Dynasty, there was a special administrative division between a county and a prefecture, called a Zhili Ting or San Ting. The chief official was usually a Tongzhi or Tongpan, who had a certain degree of military influence and was mainly used to appease areas that were difficult to manage.

Lianhua Hall was established by combining and reorganizing twenty districts from Yongxin County in the south and twelve districts from Anfu County in the north. It has been almost fifty or sixty years since then.

The head of the Lotus Hall was the Assistant Magistrate of Ji'an Prefecture. He had just taken office last year and hadn't even warmed his seat when he ran into the King of Slaughter and the Winged Tiger, who had fled in a sorry state.

"My lord, rebels from Hunan are attacking! I heard they're some kind of 'King of Slaughter'?"

"Ha, what a rabble! I'll wipe them out."

This Lianhua Hall Assistant Magistrate completely disregarded the Killing King and his men, leading his army out to attack without even bothering to find out how many old thieves the Killing King had brought this time.

An encounter is imminent.

The old thief under the King of Slaughter was afraid of the Han army, but not the Qing army. When he saw that the Qing soldiers on the other side were fewer than him and were trembling, they could not even hold their swords steady.

They immediately rushed in, and this mindless and reckless attack caused the Qing army to collapse in one fell swoop.

Lotus Hall was captured just like that. When the commander-in-chief saw the army's crushing defeat, he immediately fled.

Even after entering the city, the King of Slaughter still felt that it wasn't quite real.

Is besieging a city really that easy?

It's not that conquering cities is easy, but that conquering cities in Jiangxi is easy. Jiangxi, as a holy land for scholars, has never experienced major wars, and the Green Standard Army here has long been rotten to the core.

The reason why the bandits under the king looked weak was because they had played many high-level games against the Han army in Hunan. When they arrived in the low-level game of Jiangxi, they naturally killed them all.

After capturing Lotus Hall, Kill King immediately parted ways with the bandit leaders, including Winged Tiger and Chaos Demon. Chaos Demon headed south to attack Yongxin County, while Winged Tiger went to attack Yongning County. Kill King himself prepared to head north, first to capture Anfu County, and then to attempt to attack Ji'an Prefecture.

This time, his strategy changed slightly. After entering Lotus Hall, he only killed landlords and wealthy families, and did not commit further massacres against the common people. Instead, he distributed the grain and allowed the people of Lotus Hall to cultivate the distributed land, paying rent lower than the taxes levied during the Qing Dynasty.

Goodness, they've fought the Han army so many times that they've learned some of their tactics.

He was reluctant to distribute the land, but he still tried to gain the people's support by giving them small favors that he couldn't use at the moment. He just copied the old methods and learned the basics.

This guy also clearly realized that he had to seize a suitable base to develop. Before, he was too stifled by being confined to his small territory in Chaling, and in the end, he could only be trapped and die.

(End of this chapter)