There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 311 Sichuan, Shaanxi and Henan

Jingzhou.

Nie Yu is holding a meeting with the cabinet ministers.

"His own father has just passed away, and this son is already impatient," Nie Yu sighed, putting down the telegram translation in his hand.

He said it was an exclamation, but he could hardly suppress the smile on his face.

No one expected that Jiaqing was so adept at micromanagement; no sooner had Qianlong passed away than Jiaqing dared to replace key officials and generals in crucial war zones.

This is about governing a country and waging war, not playing house.

The three provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Henan are still fighting against the White Lotus Rebellion. If you suddenly replace the top commanders, it would be a miracle if the war didn't collapse.

Tsk!
No wonder that among the twelve emperors of the pseudo-Qing dynasty in later generations, Jiaqing had the least presence. Even Tongzhi, who had the shortest reign, died of a sexually transmitted disease, which at least gave him a somewhat legendary story.

Liu Jun said, "The pseudo-Qing Tartars' fate is sealed. Their perverse actions are justified, and our great Han should seize this opportunity."

Nie Yu nodded: "Does Minister Liu mean to agree to the request from the messengers from Sichuan, Shaanxi and Henan provinces to sell our firearms to them and then form an alliance with them to resist the Qing?"

Alliances are secondary; the key is selling firearms.

Whether it was Liu Zhixie, Zhang Zhengmo, or Wang Cong'er, they had all realized the importance of firearms in their battles against the Qing army.

Without firearms, they certainly couldn't defeat the Qing army, but the Han dynasty's firearms were renowned throughout the world for their superior quality.

In order to cover up the poor state of local military equipment, the Qing army exaggerated the power of the Han army's firearms, stating that "the Han rebels' fighting strength all stemmed from the sharpness of their firearms."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Liu Jun first bowed, then added, "However, the situations in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Henan provinces are different, so even if we form an alliance, we must decide based on the circumstances."

As he spoke, Liu Jun took out a memorial and continued, "This is the strategy for the sale of firearms and the draft of an alliance, which the cabinet has preliminarily discussed. Please take a look, Your Majesty."

The secretary stepped forward, took the memorial, and then passed it on to the King of Han.

As Nie Yu flipped through the pages, he listened to Liu Jun's explanation: "Let's start with Liu Zhixie of the White Lotus Sect in Henan. Although he is ambitious, he is too old, lacks drive, and is also indulging in pleasure. Therefore, the White Lotus Sect in Henan is not a concern. If they want to buy firearms, then they should just take out the money to buy them."

"Moreover, since they are asking for something from our Great Han, our Great Han should also make some reasonable demands. They can fight for the rest of Henan, but they cannot touch Runing and Guang Prefecture, and Xinye, Dengzhou, and Tang County must be ceded to our Great Han."

Runing and Guang Prefecture are located between Hubei and Anhui provinces and served as the border defense line of the Southern Song Dynasty during the transition between the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties.

If the Han Dynasty wants to control the south first, Henan can be spared for now, but Runing and Guang Prefecture must be captured.

As for Xinye, Dengzhou, and Tangxian, they were merely extras that Liu Jun demanded.

Because these three counties are located on a tributary of the Han River north of Xiangyang, the Han army could reach them directly by boat, and they could also serve as a bridgehead for future northern expeditions to attack Nan'an Prefecture.

The territory that the big man slashed down was not small, but it was not unacceptable to Liu Zhixie.

He hasn't conquered Runing and Guangzhou yet. Xinye, Dengzhou, and Tangxian are his territories, but they are all in ruins. The landlords and merchants have all fled, and those who didn't have been killed.

Liu Jun added, "As for Zhang Zhengmo of Sichuan, he is very ambitious. Although he took the initiative to relinquish his false title of Heavenly King of the White Lotus Sect and surrender to our Great Han, he openly proclaimed himself the Grand General of Sichuan of the Great Han in his memorial, commanding the White Lotus Sect and various anti-Qing rebel armies in Sichuan. This shows that he has great ambitions!"

“If our Great Han does not accept his surrender, then Your Majesty is narrow-minded, and the prestige of our Great Han will inevitably be damaged. But if our Great Han accepts his surrender, this man will surely take the opportunity to go further and demand all kinds of support from our Great Han, including firearms.”

"Therefore, we suggest that we set this matter aside for now, and wait until their envoy becomes impatient before giving a vague reply, so as not to give the world any reason to criticize us."

Nie Yu shook his head upon hearing this, and before Liu Jun and the others could speak, he said, "There's no need for such trouble. Since Zhang Zhengmo wants to become a vassal, why not grant him that? I'll write him a letter myself. Doesn't he want to be the Grand General of Sichuan? Then I'll grant him that title. I can also bestow upon him the title of Duke of Shu of my Great Han, so that he may live and die with the nation..."

"Your Majesty, you mustn't!"

Upon hearing this, the cabinet ministers were immediately alarmed and hurriedly tried to dissuade him. The Han Dynasty had not yet truly conferred titles; there wasn't even a single marquis or earl, let alone a duke. And according to the King of Han, with Nanjing not yet recovered, hastily bestowing titles would be of no benefit to the country.

Moreover, the King of Han had not yet proclaimed himself emperor, so what title was he granted?

"Hehe, you don't need to be in a hurry, let me finish speaking first."

Nie Yu smiled, raised his hand to signal everyone to calm down, and then said, "My title as the Duke of Shu of the Great Han is not so easy to obtain. Didn't Zhang Zhengmo want to offer up Kuizhou Prefecture? I want Kuizhou Prefecture, and I want Taiping, Zhongzhou, Shizhu, Chongqing, and Youyang all."

Seeing Chongqing in the name basically tells you what Nie Yu meant.

At first, Liu Jun didn't quite understand, but when he saw the sketches drawn on the map based on several prefectures, he realized his king's intentions.

The king intends to drive this mad dog, Zhang Zhengmo, to Sichuan to tear apart the Qing army, and then close the door, waiting for the Qing army and Zhang Zhengmo to fight to the death, before the great Han can calmly step in and deal with the situation.

Even if the Qing army defeats Zhang Zhengmo, or Zhang Zhengmo defeats the Qing army, the Han people are not afraid.

Because the gateway to Sichuan was controlled by the Han dynasty, these two could not leave Sichuan at all.

Wang Ruoyu immediately clapped his hands in praise: "Your Majesty's method is brilliant. A title of Duke of Shu with no real power has been exchanged for a valiant general to conquer cities and territories for our Han Dynasty."

Lin Wenchang nodded and pointed to the dotted line on the map, saying, "Moreover, these prefectures are all located along the Yangtze River. If our Great Han wants to travel to these prefectures, we only need to travel by boat the whole way, without having to organize a large number of laborers to transport grain and supplies."

Gu Jing then remembered something else and asked, "Your Majesty, are those firearms still for sale?"

Nie Yu laughed and said, "Sell them, why not sell them? Anyway, these firearms have been phased out by our Han army. We might as well sell them to them to recoup some losses and also cause some trouble for the Qing army."

If it were the first two years, Nie Yu might have been more conservative, but things are different now.

The Han Dynasty's firearms and steelmaking technology have completely surpassed those of the Qing Dynasty. Even if European colonists were to invade now, Nie Yu would dare to provoke them.

Liu Jun then suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, what should be done with the White Lotus Sect in Shaanxi?"

When asked about the Shaanxi White Lotus Sect, it can no longer be considered the Shaanxi White Lotus Sect, as it has been largely destroyed in the guerrilla warfare of the past few years.

Several rebel leaders either died in battle or surrendered, leaving only "Xiangyang Mulan" Wang Cong'er still holding on.

Originally, they almost couldn't hold on, but Jiaqing's micro-management saved the day. The governor of Shaanxi, Yongbao, was dismissed, and the Shaanxi commander, Wang Wenxiong, panicked and recklessly advanced, only to be ambushed by Wang Cong'er.

The Qing army suffered a major defeat, and Wang Wenxiong retreated to Xi'an in a panic.

The memorial pleading guilty and impeaching the guilty party is already on its way to Beijing.

Wang Cong'er seized the opportunity, traveled south through Hanzhong, escaped to Xing'an, and requested permission to lead his troops to surrender to the Han Dynasty.

Wang Cong'er was too old to fight anymore. After three years of guerrilla warfare, there were hardly any of the old men from Xiangyang left. Even Yao Zhifu, who admired Wang Cong'er as his teacher's wife, died in a rearguard action.

Wang Cong'er now wants to lead her fellow believers from Xiangyang back to their hometown.

Although other rebel armies have established the Great Han here, they are all against the Qing Dynasty. As long as they are not Qing devils, they are all brothers and sisters.

Nie Yu thought for a moment and said, "Send an order to the prefect of Yunyang to confiscate their weapons and let them pass through the checkpoint."

The White Lotus Rebellion was extremely destructive, but it also included pure anti-Qing peasant armies. Wang Cong'er belonged to one of these groups, and he genuinely wanted to meet this remarkable woman from history.

It wasn't Cao Cao's temperament; he simply wanted to see.

(End of this chapter)