There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 271 The Governor-General of Liangjiang Arrives
Within just one hour of the siege, the western and southern sections of the city wall of Linjiang Prefecture had been completely lost.

The Qing army either fled or surrendered directly.

Liu Ding's head had been cut off and hung on the flagpole as a warning.

The Fushou Gate, the West Gate, and the Nanxun Gate were all opened wide, and the large Han army troops that were still outside the city followed them into the city in single file.

Only then did Zhou Zongli and his fellow merchants from Linjiang lead their servants to the city gate. Upon seeing Chen Younian, they knelt down and said, "This humble subject pays respects to the Great General of the Han Dynasty!"

"Get up quickly. We don't do that kneeling ceremony in Han Dynasty, and you don't need to call me 'sir.' It sounds really strange," Chen Younian said impatiently.

Zhou Zongli was quite surprised upon hearing this. He had heard that the Han Dynasty forbade commoners from kneeling before officials. However, he had previously dismissed it as mere hearsay. How could there be a court that forbade commoners from kneeling before officials? Now, seeing it for himself, he realized that the King of Han truly cared for the entire nation.

Then it's not that we businessmen can't take this opportunity to invest a little.

Zhou Zongli stood up, not forgetting why he had come, and quickly said, "We have already bribed and dispersed the city's garrison. Please send troops to take over the city immediately and organize manpower to put out the fire. Otherwise, if the fire spreads, it may burn down to the houses!"

Chen Younian raised an eyebrow: "You guys actually started the fire?"

Zhou Zongli knew what Chen Younian wanted to ask, and immediately said, "General, rest assured, we only set fire to our own private residences. We also left people behind to organize the evacuation of nearby residents. At most, we burned down one or two houses. We can compensate them with money afterward."

"Great, lead the way!" Chen Younian said with a big smile and a wave of his hand.

Without a word, Zhou Zongli first summoned several merchants under his command and ordered each of them to lead a group of Han militia to various places to organize firefighting efforts and suppress looting and rioting by taking advantage of the chaos.

Afterwards, he personally led Chen Younian to capture important locations such as the provincial administration office, county government office, and prefectural government office.

As a county attached to Linjiang Prefecture, Qingjiang County's county government and prefectural government were almost adjacent to each other. Chen Younian's trip there was a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

The magistrate of Qingjiang County said nothing, obediently sealed the official documents, and surrendered with his official seal as he left the yamen.

The prefect of Linjiang jumped off the 20-meter-high Daguan Tower, committing suicide to protect the city.

The governor, Zhang Chengji, has disappeared without a trace. It's unclear whether he has fled or is hiding somewhere in the city; in any case, he did not commit suicide.

Zhou Zongli acted as a guide, leading the Han army's civil instructors to receive the government's archives and documents. Everything was handled in an orderly and unambiguous manner.

He truly deserves to be called a wealthy businessman; he's got real skills, and he should have no problem becoming an official.

Chen Younian waited until everyone was almost finished before praising him, saying, "You're quite an interesting merchant. I'll credit you for capturing Linjiang Prefecture this time. After the war, I'll report to the King and see if I can recommend you for an official position. It's a real waste of your talents to be a merchant here instead of an official!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zongli was first surprised, then overjoyed.

This guy wasn't uneducated; he just failed the imperial examinations twice when he was young and had no choice but to go back and inherit the family business, becoming a lowly merchant.

His tireless efforts were partly a deliberate attempt to curry favor and flatter, but also a manifestation of the contemptuous attitude of merchants. Although merchants were wealthy, their social status was indeed low. In the eyes of the government, they were nothing more than pigs and dogs, and anyone who wanted to get rich could take advantage of them (compared to officials and gentry, they were not high-ranking; compared to the common people, even thieves were considered superior...).

Now, Chen Younian actually said he would recommend him for an official position, which was simply unimaginable to him.

But the other party didn't seem to be lying; on the contrary, it seemed like a very ordinary little thing. Either Chen Younian was too uncultured to understand that officials and merchants couldn't openly collude, or the Han Dynasty simply didn't care about these things and didn't discriminate against merchants, who could also become officials. Zhou Zongli believed it was the latter; the Han Dynasty didn't discriminate against merchants because it had a special department responsible for commerce, which was affiliated with the Ministry of Works.

Well, Zhou Zongli was wrong. Chen Younian was simply too uncultured and didn't think about all the intricacies of the old officialdom.

It doesn't matter, the process is all wrong, but the result is all right.

Once the report is submitted, Nie Yu won't care whether the other party is a businessman or not; he'll only care whether the other party has harmed the people, whether they are truly talented, and whether they can be trusted.

Having received Chen Younian's promise, Zhou Zongli no longer held back in testing him and immediately asked, "General, you have already captured Linjiang Prefecture. I wonder if you have taken Zhangshu Town as well?"

"Where is Zhangshu Town?" Chen Younian paused for a moment, then asked someone to bring a map to look it up.

Zhou Zongli was initially surprised that Chen Younian had such detailed maps, but then he thought that the Han Dynasty was not an ordinary bandit group. They were a rebellious king who had already established a system of governance in a chaotic world, and there was even a possibility that they would become a true dragon. It was not surprising that they would have a few detailed maps.

Zhou Zongli pointed and said, "Zhangshu Town is right here. This town controls the crossing between the Gan River and the Yuan River. We must take Zhangshu Town so that our Han Dynasty can rest easy in Linjiang Prefecture and safely deal with the government army that is about to attack."

"How did you know that the puppet Qing dynasty had reinforcements?" Chen Younian asked.

Zhou Zongli laughed and said, "General, don't forget that we are all merchants, and merchants from Linjiang at that. Although the trade routes and waterways are now blocked by the government, no one is more well-informed than us."

After saying that, he added, "If the general cannot spare any troops, I can write a letter on his behalf to persuade Zhangshu Town to surrender. Zhangshu Town and Linjiang Prefecture share the same fate, and if the general can promise to reopen the trade route after the war, they will hand over Zhangshu Town themselves."

Upon hearing this, Chen Younian laughed and said, "Zhangshu Town is just a small town and can't cause any big trouble. However, if we can achieve this without losing a single soldier, that would be a great achievement. So, I'll entrust you with writing a letter to persuade them to surrender!"

Zhou Zongli quickly accepted the task and then continued to give Chen Younian advice on how to deal with the reinforcements from the puppet Qing army.

He's a local, so he definitely knows the local situation better than Chen Younian, plus the information comes from him, a local businessman.

Chen Younian began to inquire about the number of Qing troops in the three prefectures surrounding Linjiang Prefecture, the composition of the army, and whether they were capable of fighting.

War is not child's play. The Han army is highly skilled, but its manpower is too small. Even if the puppet Qing army is not very strong, the Han army still has to be fully prepared.

Just then, a telegraph operator rushed in to report: "General, General Yang has sent an urgent military message!"

"Just tell me what military intelligence you have! There are no outsiders here." Chen Younian waved his hand.

The telegraph operator replied: "The puppet Qing governor-general of Liangjiang is personally leading an army of 200,000 men up the river to attack Jiujiang. General Yang is urgently leading his troops back to reinforce the city!"

"what?"

Chen Younian and Zhou Zongli were both shocked, thinking they had misheard.

It's not surprising that the puppet Qing Dynasty's Viceroy of Liangjiang went south, but what about an army of 200,000?

Where did these 200,000 troops come from?

(End of this chapter)