There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 312 The Reinforcements Gone
During the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, the Qing court's Green Standard Army was in disarray, and the Eight Banners were already thoroughly corrupt.

From the first to the second year of the Jiaqing reign, the hundreds of thousands of Qing troops wiped out by the Han army were almost the last fighting force of the puppet Qing dynasty in the south.

Furthermore, the generals who were capable of fighting either died of old age or illness, or were simply dismissed or replaced, leaving the Qing court with virtually no fighting force.

Historically, the White Lotus Rebellion was difficult for the Qing government to control as soon as it broke out, and the two sides fought a protracted battle from the sixtieth year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign to the tenth year of the Jiaqing Emperor's reign.

The White Lotus Sect, with its ragtag army of ignorant men and women, managed to fight a back-and-forth battle against the Qing government's Green Standard Army and the elite Eight Banners troops.

Finally, the Qing government was forced to adopt a scorched-earth policy, while allowing Han Chinese landlords and gentry to organize their own militia and build fortified villages for defense.

The total number of troops deployed exceeded two million, and the amount of silver spent on military expenses reached a staggering two hundred million taels, completely emptying the treasury of the puppet Qing dynasty.

The army of two million, including the standing forces of the puppet Qing dynasty, plus the Manchu and Mongol Eight Banners and mercenaries from various ethnic groups (Solon, Xibe, Daur, etc.), probably did not even amount to one million.

The military expenditure of 200 million taels of silver was an astronomical figure. The total annual fiscal revenue of the puppet Qing Dynasty, not counting subsequent expenditures, was only around 40 million taels of silver.

The national treasury was emptied in ten years, which is why Emperor Daoguang was so stingy. No one could have stopped him!

Therefore, there is no doubt that the Han Dynasty was invincible in the south.

Even if the Han army's military equipment and weapons were superior to the Qing army's, the Qing army would still have no chance of stopping the Han army, let alone the Han army's superior equipment and weapons.

Anqing was besieged for nearly two months, and Li Changgui had been dawdling on the road for almost two months as well, finally arriving in Tongcheng County at a leisurely pace.

There was nothing Li Changgui could do; he wanted to wait a little longer, but the imperial court wouldn't give him any more time.

The imperial court did not issue an edict urging him to act. Emperor Jiaqing was unaware of the details of the battle in Anhui. It was only through Li Changgui that he received the news that Emperor Qianlong had passed away!
Emperor Qianlong had just passed away when Emperor Jiaqing immediately took action.

The governors of Shaanxi and Henan, and the general of Chengdu, were all dismissed and punished for their ineffective suppression of the bandits.

This terrified Li Changgui. He couldn't care less whether he could defeat the Han army. If he didn't head south now and Anqing was captured by the Han army, he would lose his head even if he had ten.

Not only was Li Changgui anxious, but Wang Bing and Chen Anbang in Chizhou Prefecture on the south bank of the Yangtze River were also extremely anxious, frantically mobilizing troops to prepare for a strong attack on the Han army across the river.

If it were before, they would definitely not dare to provoke the Han army again after being severely beaten by Yang Fang.

But now, they have no choice but to act, because the imperial court has sent down an eunuch to deliver the imperial decree.

However, the imperial edict was not issued to them, but to Zhu Gui, who was to be summoned back to the capital for a new post by Emperor Jiaqing.

Good heavens, Governor Zhu has been besieged in Anqing for two months. How is he going to get back to Beijing?

Wang Bing and Chen Anbang were men who had redeemed themselves through meritorious service, and their survival depended entirely on Zhu Gui's intercession and guarantees. If Zhu Gui had accidentally died in Anqing, not only would no one have been able to protect them afterward, but even the enraged Jiaqing Emperor would have absolutely not spared them.

"Report!"

"General, our scouts in the north have discovered that several thousand Qing troops are rushing from Tongcheng toward Anqing."

Upon hearing the scout's report, Bai Nan smiled and said, "After waiting for so long, the Qing reinforcements have finally arrived."

The Han army besieged Anqing with the aim of besieging the city and then attacking the reinforcements. After nearly two months of siege, the Qing army's reinforcements finally arrived.

Bai Nan acted swiftly, setting out north that very night with a small force of only four battalions totaling two thousand men, who secretly left the camp in batches.

The Qing troops inside Anqing Prefecture were completely unaware of the danger, and even if they had, it wouldn't have mattered, as they dared not venture out of the city to engage in open battle.

Even Zhu Gui, the governor of Anhui, was caught between wanting to fight and not daring to fight.

Bai Nan led two thousand soldiers out of the camp overnight, marched north and stopped in front of the Lian Tan River, where they laid an ambush in the nearby mountains and forests.

During the day, scouts were sent out to investigate the enemy's situation.

The Qing army's marching speed was too slow. The Han army waited for almost two days, and several scouts were sent out before they finally found out the Qing army's movements.

The scout trotted back to report: "General, the Qing army has crossed the Liantan River and is currently setting up camp on the south bank. Roughly speaking, there are about seven or eight thousand men at the camp."

"The Qing army has crossed the river?" Bai Nan was somewhat surprised. He was still thinking that if the Qing army didn't come soon, he would have to cross the river and fight his way across.

Bai Nan then asked, "Anything else? What are the Qing troops doing now?"

The scout replied, "I don't know. We don't know when the Qing army crossed the river. Anyway, we looked for a long time, and their grain transport laborers had just crossed the river. Many Qing soldiers didn't set up camp; they just lay on the grass to rest. Many others simply set fire to the grass, seemingly to repel mosquitoes. We only discovered the direction of the Qing army's camp by seeing the thick smoke from the fires."

Upon hearing this, Bai Nan's eyelids twitched violently. He couldn't even tell whether the Qing army was underestimating him or whether the Qing army's generals and officers were all incompetent fools who could make almost every mistake a marcher could make when setting up camp.

He shook his head; there was nothing more to say.

Bai Nan first let the soldiers rest on the spot, and only woke them up in the middle of the night. Then, without lighting torches, the whole army quietly approached the Qing army camp.

"kill!"

"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

Suddenly, the bugle call for the Han army to charge sounded, and two thousand Han soldiers quickly lit torches and charged toward the Qing army camp, which was already in a daze.

Inside the Qing army camp, there were nearly 10,000 Qing soldiers, including 3,500 Green Standard Army soldiers and more than 7,000 civilian laborers.

The thousands of laborers living on the outermost edge of the camp were the first to suffer. They were first awakened by the Han army's bugle call, and while they were still groggy, they saw many torches rushing towards them in the darkness.

As they rushed closer, they saw that the soldiers were all dressed in red, some holding swords and shields, others carrying long spears. Under the combined effect of the night and torches, they looked fierce and menacing, like demons.

The Qing soldiers and laborers were exhausted after a long day and were sound asleep when they were suddenly awakened. Under intense pressure, they witnessed such a terrifying scene.

The laborers were terrified and scattered, screaming and fleeing for their lives.

"Help!"

"Run! The bandits are attacking!"

"They've been defeated! The government troops have been defeated! Folks, run!"

At a few shouts, thousands of laborers were thrown into chaos. Their shouts and running around in disarray also confused the Qing troops in the inner camp.

The Qing troops in the inner camp, just awakened by the Han army's bugle call, realized it wasn't their own. Before they could even curse, they heard shouts from the outer perimeter: "The government troops have been defeated!" "The bandits are attacking!"...

These Qing soldiers were awakened by the bugle calls and battle cries. They were completely unaware of what was happening. Suddenly hearing that the bandits were attacking and that they had been defeated, they had no time to verify the situation.

It's unclear who was the first to run away, but the more than three thousand Qing troops collapsed on the spot without even fighting a single battle!
General Li Changgui of the Qing army was awakened by his personal guards and tried to rally the defeated soldiers to organize a counterattack. After realizing that it was completely useless, he decisively took the few dozen personal guards who had not yet scattered and took advantage of the chaos to jump onto the grain transport boats on the riverbank and escape.

The Han army chased all the way to the riverbank, only to be dumbfounded. The riverbank was full of Qing army grain transport boats, which rowed away at the sound of the commotion, completely ignoring their own soldiers.

Many Qing soldiers, regardless of whether they could swim or not, jumped into the river to escape.

"Those who kneel and surrender will not be killed!" Bai Nan reacted quickly, drawing his sword and shouting.

"Those who kneel down and surrender will not be killed!"

"Those who kneel down and surrender will not be killed!"

"..."

Bai Nan's personal guards shouted in response, followed by more than two thousand Han soldiers, who chased and killed while shouting.

This battle was fought inexplicably. Two thousand Han soldiers launched a night attack on ten thousand Qing soldiers and broke through them directly, with relatively few casualties.

The Qing soldiers either jumped into the river to escape, or those who couldn't escape simply knelt down and begged for mercy. The Han army didn't have time to capture these Qing soldiers and continued to pursue those Qing soldiers and laborers who were still fleeing.

The pursuit continued throughout the night, and by dawn the next day, the prisoners and casualties were tallied.

More than 2,000 Qing soldiers and more than 4,000 civilians were captured, while more than 3,000 others escaped or went missing.

The Han army suffered no casualties, and the Qing army also suffered very few casualties. Only more than two hundred corpses were found in the camp, almost all of whom had been trampled to death after falling down in their haste to escape.

We won, and the abstraction is truly abstract.

Bai Nan looked at the Qing army's provisions that had been moved to the camp on the shore. The provisions for 10,000 men were enough for the Han army to eat for a long time. It was just a pity that the grain transport ships had escaped and they had not been able to capture them all.

Bai Nan summoned several Qing army prisoners and asked them, "Are you local militia or government soldiers from the puppet Qing side?"

The prisoner replied, "I am a soldier from the Bozhou camp, under the command of General Li Changgui of Shouchun Town. This time, General Li is leading us south to fight the Han traitors."

"Tsk! Your General Li has betrayed you."

Bai Nan shook his head. The government troops in Anhui were so rotten that these pseudo-Qing Tartars were truly hopeless.

Bai Nan then asked, "How many Qing soldiers like you are still in northern Anhui?"

The prisoners shook their heads in terror: "No...no more, we are all the officers and soldiers from northern Anhui."

"Are you afraid of me?" Bai Nan asked, somewhat puzzled.

The prisoners stammered and dared not speak.

Bai Nan instantly realized something, and summoned several more prisoners, all of whom were civilian laborers among the prisoners. He asked, "Tell me, what is the Han Dynasty like here, even if it is a traitor?"

"..."

"You tell the story, and you're not allowed to lie," Bai Nan said casually, pointing at someone.

The prisoner who was pointed at could only say, "Han traitor... Han traitor. The government says that the Han traitor has always been a bloodthirsty and murderous person. In particular, the Han traitor's false king is a cannibal. He has to eat a pair of young boys and girls every meal and drink human blood."

Good heavens, the king has become a monster!

Bai Nan was at a loss for words, unable to even muster any anger. He called over the military instructor, "Old Li, these people are yours now. You explain to them! Our Han army doesn't eat people, we're not monsters."

Bai Nan handed over the ideological education of the prisoners to Li Wenjiao, let the soldiers rest and eat, and then returned with the prisoners and provisions.

Half a day later, in Anqing Prefecture.

Zhu Gui was having a meal in the city tower when a personal guard rushed in: "Your Excellency, something terrible has happened! The Han traitors! The Han traitors are coming from the north with a group of prisoners!"

Snap!
The bowl and chopsticks in Zhu Gui's hands fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Zhu Gui didn't bother to ask for details; he quickly got up and left the city tower, heading towards the city wall.

However, it was too late. At this moment, a large number of Qing soldiers and local militia had gathered on the city wall, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the outside of the city.

Zhu Gui looked over and saw that the Han army outside the city had specially come to Anqing City and circled around it, driving thousands of Qing prisoners back to their camp.

There were also several civilian prisoners carrying a military flag left behind by the Qing army.

Zhu Gui recognized it almost immediately; it was the banner of the garrison commander of Shouchun Town.

not good!

Thousands of Qing soldiers were circled around, and even those with poor eyesight could tell that they were prisoners of the Green Standard Army.

"What's going on? Why are these Han traitors driving away government troops?"

"The governor told us to defend the city, and reinforcements would come to Qing's rescue immediately. Could those be the reinforcements coming to rescue us?"

"It looks like it to me."

"Then if you say so..."

"..."

Hearing the soldiers' murmurs, Zhu Gui knew this couldn't go on. He immediately summoned several captains and lieutenants and ordered them to take men down to appease the troops.

Regardless of whether those Qing army prisoners were real or fake, or whether they were reinforcements sent south by Li Changgui, they absolutely could not be.

(End of this chapter)