There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 29: Find a way to pass the buck

Yidu County.

Nie Yu was urgently counting the spoils of war and casualties. After a rough calculation, including the Eight Banners head held by the thousand-man commander Chen Younian, the rebel army had killed a total of 24 Manchu Eight Banners soldiers and seized 17 relatively complete sets of Eight Banners cotton armor.

More than 100 soldiers and civilians were captured, while the total casualties on our side were only one. Because he failed to react in time, his arm was cut by an Eight Banners Qing soldier who climbed the city wall. Fortunately, he was bandaged in time and was not seriously injured.

The results of the battle may not seem very great, but compared with the total strength of the Qing army and the casualty ratio of both sides, it is already very impressive.

The heads of the Eight Banner soldiers were chopped off, their clothes and armor were stripped off by the rebels, their bodies were burned and buried on the spot, and the severed heads were piled up to form a simple Jingguan.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Nie Yu did not wait long before quickly summoning his generals to a meeting in the city.

The situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, and the city defense battle that was almost a joke just now allowed him to see through the strengths and weaknesses of the Qing army.

The Qing army's combat effectiveness was ridiculously low. In this case, there seemed to be no need to implement the original conservative strategy.

"Tell me, how should we fight now?" Nie Yu asked.

Bai Nan spoke first, "General, I request your order to lead our troops out of the city and kill these Qing dogs without a single survivor!"

"Ouch!?"

When they heard that Bai Nan actually asked for orders to go into battle, the middle-level officers present were all shocked.

He Shunan, who was also a captain, quickly reacted: Oh no, this kid got there first!
He Shunan quickly followed up, saying, "General, in my humble opinion, the fighting power of those Qing dogs is nothing special. Even the so-called Eight Banners of Manchuria are just good-looking but useless. Therefore, there is absolutely no need for us to stay in the city. We should take the initiative and defeat these Qing dogs head-on on the battlefield!"

Xu Sanlang looked at his nose and his heart, and said in a proper manner: "I will obey the orders of the general!"

After he finished speaking, two of the four captains agreed that they could go out of the city to fight the Qing army, one did not object, and only the last one did not express his opinion.

Chen Younian looked around and saw that everyone was staring at him. He could only chuckle, "I'm a rough man, just like Xu Laosan. I'll do whatever the general tells me to do. However, if we go out of the city to kill the Qing dogs, I'll be the vanguard. The fight just now was really unsatisfying. I didn't get much of the Qing dogs' heads, and these cowardly Qing dogs all ran away."

Okay, now it’s three to one, or all four votes passed.

When they thought about the possibility of having to leave the city and fight a decisive battle with the Qing army, the generals who came to listen to the meeting not only did not feel the slightest fear, but were all in high spirits.

This is all due to the corruption of the Qing army. Even though most of the corruption is concentrated on the young and strong soldiers, in the eyes of these generals, the performance of those young and strong soldiers is equivalent to that of the Qing soldiers, and the garbage young and strong soldiers are equal to the garbage Qing soldiers.

What he said does seem to be true. A provincial governor, a frontier official, came to suppress the bandits with only 300 soldiers, and the rest were all young and strong men. Even if we put aside the combat power, the rear of the Qing army must have been extremely empty, and they couldn't even spare the troops to suppress the bandits.

If that's the case, then what's there to be afraid of?

Nie Yu understood this and felt even more contempt for his previous conservative strategy. He didn't despise himself, but the Qing army. He smiled and said, "You're right. The Qing army's fighting power is nothing special. Even the so-called Manchu Eight Banners soldiers are just good-looking but useless."

"This time, I, the general, guessed wrong. I should say that I have been overly praising these losers. They are not even as good as the weaklings in the fields. Even if my uncle was locked in the room and fought for three days and three nights, he would still be better than these bastards!"

"Hahaha!"

This made the general officers below laugh, because it was clearly saying that the Qing soldiers were incompetent, and incompetent in every sense of the word.

"Alright, pass the word down, prepare the entire army for battle! Let those Qing dogs and weaklings see what a true man looks like."

"That's right, we are the real men. Let those weaklings see for themselves!"

"Kill the dogs! Kill the dogs!"

"What a son of a bitch, the Eight Banners, they are even softer than the women in my family!"

"No, Lao Liu, when the hell did you marry a woman without telling your brothers?"

"..."

----

In the evening, the Qing army camp outside the city.

Compared with the daytime, the camp seemed even more lifeless at night. From the generals and officers at the top to the young and strong soldiers at the bottom, everyone had low morale.

These young and strong soldiers were all forcibly conscripted and had a strong sense of war aversion. They were very disgusted by the government for forcing them to leave their homes and travel all the way to Yidu County to suppress some kind of rebellion. They didn't care about the rebellion, they only knew that they were forced to come here by the government. Not only did they have no military pay, they didn't even have enough food to eat, and if they didn't make a mistake, they might even lose their lives.

Before, they were afraid of the government and the court, so they did not dare to resist.

Now, of course, they still dare not resist, but after the failure of the daytime siege, this resentment has been further magnified.

The governor's account.

It was getting dark and candles were already lit inside.

Hui Ling looked dejected, no longer as confident as she had been during the day. "What should I do now?"

The question is what to do, not how to fight.

This puzzled Hui Ling's staff, who were not sure what to do.

It was Master Feng who spoke first, "General Fu, we failed in the first battle of the daytime siege. The rebels will surely be in high spirits. And the morale of our army... I have secretly observed not only the soldiers and officers, but also the Eight Banners of Manchuria... It is unrealistic to fight again. Our only option now is to retreat to Zhijiang County and make long-term plans!"

Master Liu said worriedly, "General Fu, Brother Feng is right. Our army's morale is low. If we force them to fight the rebels again, I'm afraid the soldiers will mutiny. However..."

"Just what?"

Hui Ling frowned, her tone already somewhat unhappy.

Even at this time, this group of legal advisors are still hesitating. Han scholars are so troublesome. They are so hesitant even when speaking.

Liu Shiye quickly knelt down and said, "General, if we withdraw our troops to Zhijiang County now, we may be able to save our army, but Yidu County will be completely lost to the rebels."

"Wasn't Yidu County lost in the first place?" Hui Ling didn't understand for a moment.

Master Feng explained, "General Fu, Brother Liu is referring to the people's hearts in Yidu County. Although Yidu County was seized by the rebels, it was only under their tyranny. The people's hearts are still with the Qing Dynasty and with General Fu. But if General Fu retreats after this battle, the rebels will surely make a big fuss about it. By then, not only will the people of Yidu County completely turn to the rebels, but the rebels throughout Jingzhou Prefecture and even in Hubei Province may all think that the Qing Dynasty... the Qing Dynasty has reached its twilight years..."

Hui Ling understood and immediately became furious: "What nonsense!"

"Master, calm down! Master, calm down! Your student... err, it was just a slip of the tongue. Please, Master, please don't let me make you sick!"

Mr. Feng kowtowed profusely immediately, and the rest of the staff and advisors followed suit.

After a long while, Hui Ling finally breathed a sigh of relief and slowly waved her hand: "Everyone, get up!"

"Thank you, Marshal Fu!"

The master's staff then stood up one after another, without even bothering to brush the dust off their clothes.

Hui Ling asked in a deep voice, "So, now we can only retreat. There is no other way?"

Master Liu's eyes rolled around, and he quickly understood that they were not asking him for a solution, but asking if he had any reason to shift the blame for the failure of the bandit suppression.

They don’t have any way to eliminate the bandits, but it’s easy for them to pass the blame!

"General, all responsibility for this battle lies with Zhijiang County Magistrate Li Huiguang. He first allowed the rebels to gain power in Yidu County, and then lied to us about military intelligence, claiming the rebels had only a hundred soldiers and were inadequately stocked with food, fodder, and armor. This is why we were caught off guard and fell into a rebel ambush, resulting in heavy casualties."

"I believe we should immediately report to the court that Zhijiang County Magistrate Li Huiguang lied about military intelligence, condoned the rebels, and missed the opportunity to fight. He should be executed!"

Wow, this big pot was put on Hui Ling, and all the responsibility was pushed onto Zhijiang County Magistrate Li Huiguang.

Everyone in Huiling was shocked. The Shaoxing lawyer really lived up to his reputation. This was too bad!
Hui Ling frowned and asked, "Then should Benfu retreat to Zhijiang now and immediately arrest the criminal Li Huiguang?"

"...Master Fushuai, your opinion is excellent!"

Well, now Huiling is relieved. If she loses a battle, then she loses it. As long as it doesn’t affect her career, then it’s not a big deal.

"Well, then we'll break camp tomorrow and retreat to Zhijiang!"

　To what extent was Hui Ling, the Governor of Hubei, outrageous?

　　Seeing that Zhang Zhengmo had an army of 20,000, he became intimidated and said that it was raining and he could not march, so he did not dare to fight. After being criticized by the governor, he finally advanced his troops, but was ambushed and suffered heavy losses. All those who could die died, forcing the governor to transfer troops back from Hunan for rescue. Zhang Zhengmo was defeated, but the White Lotus Sect in Xiangyang became stronger. Huiling went to Xiangyang to suppress the White Lotus Sect. He fought several battles, but because the opponents were bandits, he won. Then, he stopped fighting and watched the others flee. He was defeated by the furious emperor!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)