There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 344 Chain Reaction
January this year.

Chen Lin and his team from the Great Han Intelligence Bureau disguised themselves as an ordinary merchant and arrived in Jiangning Prefecture.

Apart from encountering a few Qing soldiers who extorted money when they docked at Jiangning Wharf, Chen Lin and his group were not hindered in any way.

The strategic blockade implemented by the puppet Qing dynasty along the Yangtze River was virtually ineffective.

Just half a month later, a high-end restaurant called Liuweiju opened on the banks of the Qinhuai River.

The location is right on the bustling street of Qinhuai River, and anyone coming to Qinhuai River can see the Liuweiju sign at a glance.

On opening day, the restaurant was packed with people.

Every diner who has tried Liuweiju's dishes raves about them.

As a result, Liuweiju's reputation spread rapidly, reaching the entire Jiangning Prefecture in just half a month. Even General Fu Chang of Jiangning personally came to eat there once.

The reason I only ate there once was because later I changed to ordering banquets from Liuweiju, and once they were prepared, they would be delivered directly to the Jiangning General's Office.

They certainly wouldn't accept silver; it was all a tribute from Liuweiju to General Jiangning. In return, Liuweiju wouldn't have to worry about being ostracized by competitors when opening a new restaurant.

……

Second floor, private room.

Chen Lin was hosting a banquet for his guests, but there weren't many people, only seven in total.

However, these seven individuals were no ordinary people. Five of them were powerful and influential families in Jiangning Prefecture, veritable local tyrants. The other two, while not as influential, were still the two largest grain and salt merchants in Jiangning Prefecture, possessing substantial wealth and a formidable network of connections.

There are no officials available yet, so Chen Lin won't be able to make any connections anytime soon.

During the banquet, despite being a formality to entertain guests, no one touched their chopsticks. Instead, the leader of the five gentry families took out a small booklet and handed it to Chen Lin, saying, "Manager Chen, this booklet contains maps of several key defense locations in Jiangning Prefecture. It also shows the garrison strength of the Jiangning Green Standard Army and the Eight Banners, as well as their basic military equipment."

Chen Lin took the booklet and quickly flipped through it a few times: "Are the Qing troops from Xuzhou also in Jiangning?"

The gentryman nodded: "This General of Xuzhou is a Manchu of the Eight Banners. He shouldn't have been stationed in Jiangning, and Jiangning isn't within the garrison area of ​​the Xuzhou Green Standard Army. But our newly arrived General of Jiangning took the initiative to request that the Qing troops from Xuzhou be transferred to Jiangning Prefecture, saying it was to guard against... guard against the Han army. But in the end, the army hasn't even arrived yet, and Jiangning Prefecture is already almost ruined by the Qing troops from Xuzhou."

Chen Lin then asked, "Is it true that Jiangning Prefecture City only has these five thousand-plus Eight Banners and Green Standard Army soldiers, and no more Qing troops have been transferred in, or young and strong local militia have been recruited to defend the city?"

Another gentryman replied, “Don’t worry, Manager Chen. You’re not from Jiangning, so you’re not familiar with the situation here. Although there’s a Manchu city here, as well as the Jiangning General and the Governor-General of Liangjiang, Jiangning is not the capital of Jiangsu Province. The three chief officials of Jiangsu Province, including the Jiangsu Governor and the Provincial Treasurer, are not based in Jiangning, but in Suzhou. Only the Governor-General of Liangjiang is based in our Jiangning.”

"Li Fenghan, the Governor-General of Liangjiang, has been killed in battle at Jiujiang by the royal army, and the court has not sent a new governor-general to take office. When Governor Li was in power, Jiangning Prefecture had a governor-general in charge, and even the Jiangning General was under his command. But now the governor-general is gone, and the admiral has also died in battle. The highest-ranking official in Jiangning Prefecture is now the Jiangning General Fu Chang."

"Most people might think that General Jiangning is very powerful, but in reality, General Jiangning can only govern the entire city. This General Jiangning is also newly appointed. If he dares to recruit soldiers, there will definitely be a crowd that rises up to attack him!"

After this explanation, Chen Lin understood.

This can be seen as a chain reaction brought about by the Han Dynasty. Yang Fang killed the Qing Dynasty's Governor-General of Liangjiang in Jiujiang, resulting in the Qing Dynasty no longer having a Governor-General in the Liangjiang region.

Although Emperor Jiaqing was aware of the situation, after careful consideration, he still did not send a new governor-general.

There was no way around it; the gentry in Jiangnan were too powerful. To prevent the gentry from getting out of control, the Qing government had specifically divided Jiangnan province in two.

With Emperor Jiaqing having just assumed personal rule and lacking sufficient authority, coupled with the fierce fighting in Henan and the Qing court's tight finances, he dared not rashly appoint a new governor-general.

If a major problem arises, Jiangnan will be finished!
Without the Governor-General of Liangjiang acting as the central coordinator, the risk of Jiangnan spiraling out of control was indeed greatly reduced. However, the Jiangning General, the Jiangsu Governor, the Jiangnan Waterway Commissioner, and the Grand Canal Commissioner were unable to reach a consensus in the face of the threat from the Han Chinese. Fu Chang's decision to mobilize the Green Standard Army from Xuzhou to assist him in defending Jiangning was not only because the enemy was a Manchu Eight Banners, but also because he could only mobilize the Xuzhou garrison.

The Jiangsu governor, Yixing, was of a similar rank, and he directly used the excuse of insufficient troops to completely disregard his orders.

Both the Grand Canal Commissioner Kang Jitian and the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner Tie Bao cited the need to protect the canal transport and defend the Yellow and Huai Rivers as reasons for not being able to spare any troops to provide support.

"Heh," the gentry who initially provided the defense map sneered, "They talk about protecting the canal and having insufficient troops, but frankly, they're just afraid of having their credit stolen. If they send troops, they'll not only bear the risks, but even if they manage to defend Jiangning, the credit will go to the General of Jiangning, and it will have nothing to do with them."

Chen Linlin was so shocked by this that he stood up straight. Although he was only in the intelligence field, he knew that with a formidable enemy at hand, it would be better to put aside past grievances and cooperate sincerely than to engage in open and covert struggles.

"With only five thousand Qing troops, Jiangning Prefecture cannot be defended," Chen Lin said calmly, putting away the booklet.

"The mighty Han army is invincible; a mere five thousand Qing soldiers are naturally no match for them!"

Everyone immediately offered their compliments.

The only grain merchant present suddenly asked, "Manager Chen, when will the royal army be able to send troops to attack Jiangning?"

Chen Lin was taken aback upon hearing this. He was also unaware of Jingzhou's troop deployment plan, so he could only vaguely reply, "Once the royal army has taken Huainan, they will then send troops to attack Jiangning!"

The grain merchant, of course, realized that Chen Lin was deliberately trying to fool him. Instead of stopping while he was ahead, he said urgently, "Please, Manager Chen, be sure to inform the Prince of Han that we, the merchants and gentry of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, all earnestly request the Prince of Han to send troops to conquer Jiangnan as soon as possible!"

This grain merchant was also driven to the brink of desperation. Ever since Jiangnan lost the Huguang granary, grain prices have been rising year by year.

At first, the guy was very happy because the price of grain had increased, and he could earn more silver.

But as one or two years passed, he quickly realized that something was wrong: grain prices were rising too high and showed no signs of stopping.

That would have been fine, but because grain prices were rising and there wasn't enough food, many cotton and mulberry fields in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were gradually being converted to rice cultivation.

The consequence of this was the collapse of the silk fabric industry chain.

Because cotton fields were converted to rice fields, the production of cotton and silk decreased significantly. Without silk and cotton, many cloth merchants either went bankrupt or switched to other businesses.

The mass bankruptcies and business changes of these merchants immediately caused a major earthquake in the markets of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with prices of all kinds of goods in the region soaring.

Not only did the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang suffer greatly, but businessmen from all walks of life were also badly affected.

Moreover, even at such a huge cost, the grain supply in the Jiangzhe region was still insufficient, and they had to purchase grain from overseas to supplement it.

Buying grain was not a long-term solution, and it was far from enough. In addition, when Siam, Korea and other countries saw that Chinese merchants were buying so much grain, they also raised prices on the spot.

Seeing that Chen Lin remained silent, the grain merchant gritted his teeth, stood up, and solemnly cupped his hands, saying, "Please, Manager Chen, for the sake of the people's livelihood in Jiangnan, inform the Prince of Han to send troops as soon as possible and take all of Jiangnan!"

"..."

Chen Lin's expression was solemn; he had taken everything the other person said to heart.

Plans couldn't keep up with changes; the Han army fought too fiercely on the battlefield, seriously interfering with the evolution of the situation in Jiangnan.

After the banquet, Chen Lin thought long and hard and decided to send the message back to Jingzhou first, letting the Jingzhou side make a decision.

(End of this chapter)