There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 314 Anqing

Thanks to Zhu Gui's swift response, braziers have been lit along the various sections of Anqing's city walls. Only the section guarded by merchants like Wang Yu remains completely dark.

Zhu Gui had always been both exploitative and wary of these merchants, and this comparison immediately revealed the clues.

Of course, Zhu Gui wasn't entirely sure; he was just bluffing. If they still didn't retaliate, there was still room for redemption.

Unfortunately, after his bluff, the merchants simply stopped pretending.

Wang Yu didn't have time to get here; his nephew, Wang Yong, is in charge.

Wang Yong, just from his name you can tell he's a big, burly man.

This guy didn't know that Ye Wenfu had actually started the fires in the city. He thought his uncle had decided to rebel, so he didn't care about anything else. He picked up his big knife and shouted, "Men, let's kill the officials and rebel together!"

When Wang Yong shouted this, the remaining trusted servants of the Wang family all looked at each other in bewilderment.

There was no other way; the die was cast.

These trusted servants then raised their knives and shouted, "Kill the officials, rebel, and join the Han!"

The Wang family soldiers, who had been completely bewildered, finally realized from the shouts that their patriarch had become a traitor. Although still somewhat dazed, they were determined to survive and, without hesitation, raised their knives to attack their allies.

None of the friendly local militia members could react in time. How did their allies suddenly turn into traitors?
Caught off guard, the local militia were instantly routed.

Zhu Gui's eyes were bloodshot with rage. He hadn't expected that these merchants' militia would actually dare to rebel: "Quickly, stop them! Don't let them get near the city gate! Kill all these rebels!"

Zhu Gui's reaction was quick enough; he remained calm even in the face of danger.

However, it was no use for him to remain calm, because the city was becoming increasingly chaotic.

The chaos in Anqing spread like a plague, with people setting fires everywhere. The fires continued to spread and worsen, and even Ye Wenfu, the instigator, could not control them and was forced to lead his servants to put out the fires.

On the city wall, many local militiamen even forgot about defending the city and spontaneously ran down the wall.

They weren't running away; they all wanted to go back and put out the fire. The fire was too big, and if it continued to burn, it might even burn down their hometown.

Several Qing army officers noticed and tried to stop them, but they were completely unable to stop them.

Another Qing army captain from the Anqing Left Battalion, seeing that the situation was hopeless, quickly threw off his hat, cut off his queue (braid) with a knife, and shouted: "My lads, follow me and rebel against the Han, and enjoy wealth and glory!"

The Qing army force of the Anqing Left Battalion had a full strength of about 500 men, but in reality, including the captains and personal guards, there were only 434 men.

Wangjia Township's militia were not skilled in combat, but their sudden defection had already made it difficult for Zhu Gui to cope.

Now, the Qing army from the Anqing Left Battalion turned against them, and the two armies' defense zones on the city walls were very close, forming a pincer attack.

Zhu Guiren, caught in the middle, was almost dumbfounded. He had deliberately arranged things this way so that the Anqing Left Battalion would keep an eye on the Wangjia Township militia. Now, things had turned out differently, with the Anqing Left Battalion also rebelling along with the Wangjia Township militia.

Zhu Gui didn't even have time to gather his troops. He had less than two hundred personal guards by his side, and the remaining five hundred or so had been scattered.

Those local militia members who hadn't yet defected either surrendered on their knees because they couldn't win, or they ran around aimlessly, and one night they accidentally slipped and fell off the city wall.

"boom!"

Outside the city, the Han army had already discovered the unusual activity in Anqing.

Late at night, flames suddenly burst into Anqing City, with thick smoke billowing upwards. Even a fool could tell that something terrible had happened in the city.

Bai Nan made a decisive decision and ordered an attack on the city. He even brought out the cannons and fired two shots.

The shells were fired at night, and of course, none of them hit their mark.

But that's not important; as long as the psychological impact is sufficient, that's enough.

After the cannons finished firing, the Han army launched a direct assault, with thousands of Han soldiers advancing towards the walls of Anqing.

Fortunately, during the first two months of siege, the Han army did not do nothing. The moat had long been filled in by Han laborers, and many cloud carts and trench bridges were built.

The Han army, shouting battle cries, pushed their chariots and moat bridges toward Anqing Prefecture.

The Han army's charge, coupled with the defection of Wangjia militia on the walls of Anqing and hundreds of Qing soldiers, along with the fires and chaos spreading throughout the city, created the illusion for the remaining tens of thousands of militia that the Han army was everywhere.

These local militia were, frankly speaking, just ordinary people; their combat effectiveness was negligible, and their training was severely inadequate.

Faced with this situation, they no longer cared about defending the city and fighting; they were so frightened that they fled in all directions toward the city gates.

The city is no longer safe; they can only escape by opening the city gates.

Zhu Gui realized the intentions of these local militiamen and hurriedly tried to order them to stop them, but unfortunately, he couldn't stop them at all.

Not only were they unable to stop them, but many of his personal guards had also mingled among them, helping the local militia open the gates. There was no need to continue the battle!
The Han army outside the city was much faster than the Qing army. When the Han army arrived at the various city gates of Anqing, they were about to launch a strong attack to seize the city when they found that the city gates had been pushed open from the inside.

There's not much to say after that. The Han army formed their battle formation and charged straight in, saving the trouble of setting up siege engines and trench bridges.

"Spare your life, spare your life!"

"We surrender, we surrender!"

"Woooooo~~"

Whenever they encountered Qing soldiers and local militia from the Han army, they offered no resistance whatsoever. They would either turn and run away, or, if they couldn't escape, they would cry out and kneel down, begging for their lives.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Zhu Gui was about to lead his personal guards in a desperate fight when he was suddenly struck by a rude awakening.

It was a real wake-up call. The old man was almost seventy years old, and he was knocked down by his personal guard with a single punch, and even his sword was taken from him.

"We surrender! We surrender! We've captured the Governor of Anhui! We've captured the Governor!"

The Han army had no time or energy to capture the Qing soldiers and local militia, but this was Zhu Gui, the governor of Anhui. Immediately, an officer ran over and saw Zhu Gui's old face being pressed to the ground as he struggled wildly.

The official hat had long been kicked away by someone, and the bird embroidered on his uniform was completely unfamiliar to the officer, who, even if he did recognize him, would not know his rank.

But it doesn't matter, if he has official robes, he must be a high-ranking official.

"Tie him up first, and we'll talk about it when the general arrives."

The Han army officer quickly gave the order, and then said to the Qing soldiers who had captured Zhu Gui: "And you, go into the city immediately to put out the fire. Take the remaining surrendered Qing soldiers and local militia, and you must bring the fire under control."

Good heavens! This Han army officer initially thought it was just a small fire, but once he got to the Anqing city wall, he realized that some damned bastard had started this massive fire.

Because the fire was burning so fiercely, the Han army was too busy to even capture the city walls and gather prisoners. They could only send the surrendered prisoners and Qing soldiers to organize manpower to fight the fire.

Zhu Gui lay face down on the ground, struggling in vain, feeling only humiliation. He was about to bite his tongue and commit suicide to serve the Qing Dynasty.

Suddenly, they heard the Han army arranging for people to put out the fire. When did these bandits start caring about such things?

Zhu Gui was puzzled. This seemed somewhat different from the Confucian classics he had read and the great rebels who were supposed to wreak havoc on the world.

In a daze, Zhu Gui was tied up by several Han soldiers.

Afterwards, the Han army that entered the city immediately joined the fire brigade, and nearly 20,000 local militia were also incorporated into the fire brigade.

There was no way to escape; all the city gates were blocked by the Han army, so they had no choice but to obey.

With the concerted efforts of more than 20,000 people, the fire in the city was fought continuously throughout the night and was finally extinguished in the early morning.

Almost all of the more than 20,000 local militiamen were captured by the Han army, and more than 1,500 of the more than 2,000 Qing soldiers were also captured.

After capturing prisoners, the next step was naturally to kill them.

The local militia and lower-ranking officers of the Qing army were spared, but several high-ranking generals were all dragged out and beheaded after their identities were verified.

They also selected several households in the city that were setting fires everywhere, as well as wealthy gentry who voluntarily paid money and grain to the government.

Leave no one alive, cut them all down!

In times of chaos, harsh measures are necessary. Although these gentry seem to be helping, the rampant arson has destroyed too many homes and caused numerous deaths and injuries. It is necessary to execute some of them to appease public anger.

Moreover, if these gentry truly wanted to defect and surrender, they could have done so from the beginning, instead of taking advantage of the chaos caused by others' arson to try and steal credit for themselves.

Bai Nan didn't have time to slowly investigate whether they were innocent or not; he just wanted to find them and chop off a bunch of heads first.

After the land was cut down, public anger could be appeased, and the killings could establish authority. In the end, tens of thousands of acres of land could be obtained for free to facilitate the land distribution work of the officials in charge of land distribution later.

"Meet the General!"

Upon seeing Bai Nan, Ye Wenfu immediately bowed and clasped her hands in greeting.

"You are Ye Wenfu?" Bai Nan looked at her repeatedly, then nodded slightly and said, "You set the fire quite well, seizing the opportunity precisely, which helped our Great Han capture Anqing Prefecture. Our Great Han never fails to reward those who have made contributions. You will come to this yamen and assist this general in handling affairs. I will report your merits to the Prince of Han!"

"Thank you, General!" Ye Wenfu's dark face broke into a smile.

It was all worth the huge price he paid; even the old house his father left him was mostly burned down, and he almost risked his life and fortune.

Historically, although Ye Wenfu was relatively unknown, he raised a capable son who worked with Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang to suppress the Nian Rebellion and even became the Provincial Treasurer of Shaanxi. His grandson went on to become the Governor of Shaanxi.

(End of this chapter)