There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 249 Siege of Nanchang
Yang Fang was speechless. He couldn't stand always winning battles, so he marched straight south to attack Nanchang.

As a result, before he even reached Anyi County on his southward journey, and before he even planned to attack Anyi County, the county was so frightened that it captured the magistrate and the registrar and surrendered on its own initiative.

Jiangxi is really strange; they've all come together to surrender their cities.

An'yi County surrendered and offered up the city, so Yang Fang had no choice but to deal with it. He sent another 500 troops to take over the county seat. The distribution of land could no longer be overseen, otherwise all the military instructors would have been stuck here.

Even the fields in De'an and Jianchang counties haven't been divided up yet!

For this reason, when the gentry of De'an and Jianchang counties saw that the Han army had not distributed their land, they thought that the Han army valued the gentry of Jiangxi and all sincerely supported the Han.

In many places, local gentry simply donated money and grain to fund the army's food expenses.

Yang Feng dispatched 500 soldiers to garrison Anyi County, leaving him with only 3,500 troops. However, he had ample supplies of artillery ammunition and provisions, as well as a considerable number of local laborers to help the Han army transport supplies and do other work.

Although the Han army did not have the energy to distribute land to them at the moment, they had already abolished the slave status of these people, and the recruited laborers were all given rations so that they would not work for free.

The army of 3,500 men marched south, crossed the Western Hills, and arrived in Nanchang.

A few days later.

"Report! Your Excellency, we have spotted traces of Han traitors thirty miles ahead. They have already crossed the Western Mountains."

"what?"

Wan Ning was utterly shocked. He had just suffered a defeat in Nanchang and was urgently sending a message to Ruizhou, ordering Zhang Chengji to lead troops back to reinforce the city. Before the enemy could return, the Han army had already attacked.

Xu Zhaochun, the prefect of Nanchang, who was standing nearby, hurriedly asked, "How many Han traitors have come?"

The messenger wasn't quite sure: "Some say there are tens of thousands, others say only a few thousand..."

Halfway through his sentence, Wan Ning immediately shook his head in denial: "It's impossible that there were only a few thousand people. Although the Han traitors are fierce, they are not arrogant fools. If the Han traitors' generals were not stupid or crazy, they would not have done such a thing if they had only a few thousand people to attack Nanchang."

Hearing Wan Ning say this, Xu Zhaochun also felt that it made sense. The Han traitor generals were not some reincarnation of Xiang Yu, how could they really be so bold as to bring a few thousand men to attack Nanchang?
That means there must be tens of thousands of troops. If tens of thousands of troops attack Nanchang, and they take advantage of the moment when Nanchang has just suffered a major defeat, then Nanchang Prefecture will probably be difficult to defend!

Wan Ning thought for a moment and then gave the order: "Go and investigate again immediately. Make sure you find out the truth about the Han traitors."

The Han army had already reached Nanchang Prefecture, and Governor Zhang Chengji was not present. Even if he was afraid of the Han army, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and confront them.

Otherwise, if Nanchang were lost, Governor Zhang Chengji would be in trouble, and I, the Provincial Treasurer, would also be in deep trouble.

In the afternoon, the Han army arrived at Shengmi Ferry, south of the Gan River, and set up camp there.

The Gan River originates from the western foothills of the Wuyi Mountains, flows from south to north through the entire Jiangxi province, and eventually converges into Poyang Lake.

Therefore, the Han army naturally wanted to seize the upper reaches of the Gan River in order to exert strategic pressure on Nanchang Prefecture, which was located downstream.

Wanning sent out scouts in small boats upstream to try and find out the situation of the Han army on the north bank. But before they could get close, they were spotted by the Han army's sentry posts along the riverbank, and they quickly took to the water in their boats to give chase.

"Kill me!"

The Han soldier captain roared an order, and several Han soldiers rowed their boats at full speed to give chase.

Upon seeing this, the Qing scouts from Nanchang abandoned their intelligence gathering and turned their boats to flee. The Han soldiers gave chase at full speed, but failed to catch up. The Qing army was also fleeing downstream, and the two sides were almost evenly matched in speed.

The Han soldiers chased for a while, then stopped and crossed the river. Several Han soldiers arrived at a village on the south bank.

When the villagers saw the "bandits" dressed in red and without braids, they were all so frightened that they shrank back into the village.

Fortunately, there was a cultural instructor there who managed to persuade the villagers and select a few representatives to come out and explain the situation to the Han army through a question-and-answer session.

"Old man, how many Qing troops are there in Nanchang now?" the Han soldier captain asked.

The old man shook his head and said, "I don't know either! Great King, I'm just an ordinary farmer in this village, I really don't understand the affairs of the government!"

The instructor next to him was a little embarrassed: "Sir, we are the Han army, the official army from the Great Han Dynasty, not bandits or thieves."

The old man nodded hurriedly, "Uh, yes, yes, this gentleman is right, I misspoke, I..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by another old man dressed in coarse cloth: "Alright, alright, Uncle Liu, stop talking. These burly soldiers have military duties to attend to, so don't waste their time."

Although the old man was wearing coarse cloth clothes, they were very clean, clearly indicating that he was quite well-off even in this poor village.

Instructor Wen cupped his hands in greeting: "How should I address you, sir?"

The old man in coarse cloth said, "My surname is Liu, and I am currently the village head of Liu Family Village. Please feel free to ask me anything, sir."

Instructor Wen nodded: "Our question is not complicated. We just want to ask about the current situation in Nanchang Prefecture. We hope that Elder Liu can tell us everything in detail."

Liu, the village head, dared not conceal anything and hurriedly explained in detail: "I am just the village head, so I don't know much. But I heard that some time ago, the prefectural city sent soldiers to Jianchang County to suppress bandits, and the officials from the prefectural city also came to the village to collect some grain, saying it was military rations for suppressing bandits."

"I dared not resist, so I could only rally the families in the village and grit my teeth to contribute some. But a few days later, the officials came again, saying that the bandits were too powerful and had defeated the government troops. They even said that the provincial governor who was in charge of the troops almost did not return, and that we should continue to pay military rations."

"Then, this old man had no other choice but to go to the old man Liu in the east of the village, pawn all the land in the village, and borrow some money and grain to get by."

"To be honest, I won't hide it from you gentlemen, but everyone in this village is almost selling their children. Even Old Master Liu said he has no surplus grain. Even if you gentlemen don't come, it's hard to say whether our Liu Family Village will still exist next year."

At this point, the village chief Liu suddenly knelt down, kowtowed, and cried, "I beg you, sirs, to save my Liu Family Village! I heard from some scholars who were fleeing famine in the village that a great man from a neighboring province had come up with a name for the poor and needy. I dare not ask you to save my Liu Family Village, but I beg you to leave it a way out!"

After Village Chief Liu knelt down, the other village representatives, without any prompting, all followed suit and knelt down as well.

The Han army instructor and the Han soldiers scouts were all somewhat surprised, but after the initial shock, they quickly helped each other up.

The ferry returned to the camp. "Report!"

"The situation in Nanchang has been roughly ascertained. The local people all say that the puppet Qing has suffered a great defeat and the Qing army is almost wiped out. It seems that the puppet Qing government is recruiting soldiers, but there is probably not enough time."

With insufficient supplies and manpower, Nanchang Prefecture is currently facing a precarious situation, both in terms of food and military strength.

Yang Fang's decision was correct. The Qing army suffered a terrible defeat in Jianchang County, losing too much money and supplies to the local militia.

Such a large number of local militia and military supplies cannot be gathered in a short time, even in just a few days. Even if the gentry of Jiangxi were willing to fully support the puppet Qing government, it would be useless, as the fighting strength of the local militia would be uneven.

It should be said that the reason why Jianchang suffered such a crushing defeat was essentially because Wan Ning was too hasty. Although Governor Zhang Chengji was not good at fighting, he still knew some basic recruitment and training of soldiers. Wan Ning, on the other hand, knew nothing and relied purely on his lineage and seniority.

The local militia, numbering over ten thousand, had only been assembled a few days ago and didn't even know proper formations. The officers had only just been appointed.

Even fighting a battle with an advantage is difficult enough, let alone being led on a long march to Jianchang County to suppress bandits. In that case, they would basically collapse at the first charge and be defeated in every battle.

Having learned the true situation of Nanchang, Yang Fang was not in a hurry to cross the river and attack the city. Instead, he prioritized building camps and fortifications along the river. He then sent small detachments across the river, not to attack Nanchang, but to take over the villages and towns along the river.

The instructors had work to do again. They followed the Han soldiers who had crossed the river and first went around fighting the local tyrants and bullies.

How do you distinguish between local tyrants and evil gentry? Of course, there's no need to distinguish them. This is wartime. Regardless of whether they are evil gentry or not, all their land and property will be distributed, and then they will be dragged out for public trial.

If the public is willing to let you go after a public trial, you can live; if they are not, then you are out of luck.

There might be innocent people, but the Han army's cultural instructors couldn't care less. Anyway, after a series of operations, almost 90% of the landlords and gentry along the Gan River disappeared overnight, and the remaining 10% were also trembling with fear, some even sending people to help the Han army's cultural instructors distribute land to the people.

More than half a month passed, and Xu Zhaochun looked out of the city and frowned, saying, "Your Excellency, this is not a solution. The Han traitors are despicable. They are actually dividing up land along the river outside the city. If this continues, the surrounding people will become the people of the Han traitors sooner or later, and Nanchang Prefecture will become an isolated city."

Wan Ning's face was grim: "If we go out into battle, I'm afraid Nanchang Prefecture will be difficult to defend for the next half month."

That's true. Wan Ning led tens of thousands of local militia northwards before, but only a few hundred escaped back.

Although the Qing government explained to the gentry that the provincial governor of Wanning was ambushed by tens of thousands of Han bandits and suffered a major defeat, the truth was that the government officials themselves knew that only a thousand or so Han bandits had defeated their army of tens of thousands.

One against ten, the Han bandits were too fierce, several times fiercer than the bandits of Ji'an they had ever encountered.

No wonder the bandits of Ji'an couldn't compete with the Han traitors and were driven from southern Hunan to their Jiangxi.

Wan Ning was deeply worried: "The Han traitors can fight ten against one, but that's not what I'm most worried about. The imperial edict clearly states that the Han traitors are skilled in firearms. Even the prefectures of Jiujiang and Nankang have reported that the Han traitors' firearms are so sharp that no human can withstand them."

Wan Ning couldn't even imagine that firearms beyond human capability could withstand such power, let alone that there could be cannonballs larger than a human head. Moreover, the cannons that could fire such heavy shells had incredibly long barrels, and their range and rate of fire exceeded his imagination. They were even immune to the threat of barrel explosions.

Seeing that Wan Ning seemed somewhat distracted, Xu Zhaochun assumed that Wan Ning was afraid of the Han rebels' superior firearms, and quickly comforted him, saying, "Your Excellency, there is no need to worry too much. No matter how powerful the Han rebels' firearms are, they are nothing more than cannons. Our Nanchang Prefecture has long since manufactured several cannons and placed them on the city's defensive fortifications. Moreover, we are in a commanding position, overlooking the fortified city of Nanchang. If the Han rebels were to engage us in a cannon battle, they would undoubtedly be defeated!"

Unlike the abstract "wise men" of the three Jiangxi provincial governments, Xu Zhaochun, the prefect of Nanchang, was quite capable. During his tenure, he did a lot of practical work for the governance of Nanchang, mainly in local construction, and was a political talent who was good at infrastructure.

Upon hearing that the Han army was marching south to attack Jiujiang, he did his best to strengthen the defenses of Nanchang and spent a lot of money to cast several red-coated cannons as heavy artillery for the defense of Nanchang.

Now, it has indeed come in handy.

Hearing what Xu Zhaochun said, Wan Ning was still somewhat uneasy, but he was not so panicked anymore. He asked again, "When will Governor Zhang be able to lead his troops back to reinforce?"

Xu Zhaochun replied, "The governor said that he has recruited 10,000 soldiers each in Ruizhou, Linjiang, and Yuanzhou, and has also assembled the Green Standard Army in southern Jiangxi, for a total of 40,000 troops. They are rushing back to Nanchang day and night. I urge the governor to hold the line and await reinforcements."

"Ah."

Wan Ning nodded slightly; finally, there was some good news.

Although Zhang Chengji was just as incompetent as him in warfare, or even less, he had served as governor for three terms and had some real military achievements, so he was definitely more knowledgeable about military affairs than him.

In the previous battle of Ji'an Prefecture, the Jiangxi Green Standard Army suffered a major defeat, but the actual responsibility did not lie entirely with Zhang Chengji. He simply knew that he was not good at fighting, so he chose to delegate authority to his subordinate generals. But who could have imagined that the Jiangxi Green Standard Army was so incompetent, with its generals and commanders being utterly incompetent?

With this level of combat strength, even if Zhang Chengji were a master strategist, he wouldn't be able to turn the tide of the battle; at best, he would just suffer a less devastating defeat.

Meanwhile, Wanning planned to defend Nanchang to the death, while Yang Fang was leisurely overseeing the land distribution outside the city of Nanchang. At the same time, he was recruiting and training villagers, not expecting to turn them all into militia, but at least to create obstacles and trouble for the Qing army.

At that time, Zhang Chengji, just as Xu Zhaochun had said, had just led more than 10,000 local militiamen from Ruizhou away from their hometown to Nanchang to prepare for the battle against the Han army.

In northern Jiangxi, the Han Chinese and the puppet Qing dynasty are about to go to war for control of Nanchang Prefecture.

Conversely, in southern Jiangxi, Ji'an Prefecture is almost completely ignored.

Yuan Chunde, the prefect of Ji'an, lay prone on the city wall, his face filled with terror.

This guy is incredibly unlucky. Just how unlucky?
Since this guy's term has long expired, he should return to the capital to report on his work. He should either be promoted or transferred laterally; in short, he shouldn't remain in Ji'an Prefecture indefinitely.

Unfortunately, when the King of Slaughter arrived in Jiangxi, he went straight to Ji'an Prefecture. Ji'an Prefecture instantly became a hot potato. No one was willing to buy the position of prefect, and no one even dared to buy the position of county magistrate.

Therefore, Yuan Chunde successfully served as re-elected from the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign until the third year of Jiaqing's reign, and he was still unable to leave office.

They watched as the King of Killing All defeated the army sent by the governor and then besieged the city of Ji'an.

To this day, the Nanchang Prefecture has completely abandoned him; the governor and the provincial treasurer have both turned a blind eye to him, and local officials in various prefectures and counties of Jiangxi have also treated Ji'an as if he no longer exists.

Yuan Chunde thus became the prefect of Ji'an, who was left to defend the isolated city.

There was no other way. For Zhang Chengji and Wan Ning, Ji'an could be lost. At worst, they could recover it, submit a memorial to atone for their crimes, and give Yuan Chunde, who died for his country, a posthumous title.

But Nanchang is different. Nanchang must not be lost, or it will be all over!

(End of this chapter)