There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 357 Three-pronged attack
Two hours later.

The Han army is cleaning up the battlefield and taking inventory of Qing prisoners.

The total number of casualties among the tens of thousands of Qing Green Standard Army soldiers in Zhejiang, including those killed by Han troops using cannons, rockets, and rifled guns in several waves, was less than three thousand, which was about one-tenth of the total number of Qing Green Standard Army soldiers in Zhejiang.

More than a thousand people were trampled and injured or killed during the escape, while the rest almost all surrendered. Those who did not surrender could not escape.

The ambush site chosen by Li Changgeng and Ruan Yuan was excellent, with Jinhua Mountain right behind them. Instead of ambushing the Han army, they blocked their own retreat.

If you want to run, go ahead and run alone up a mountain at night!
Aside from Li Changgeng being rather unlucky, being riddled with bullets by the Han army with rifled muskets and ending up like a human beehive, which was only a few years earlier than his death at the hands of Cai Qian in history.

Ruan Yuan, the puppet Qing governor of Zhejiang, didn't die, but he also didn't escape during the chaos.

Because this guy was addicted to drugs. As one of the first drug addicts in Zhejiang's officialdom, the drugs he smoked were not only the most potent, but also plentiful and satisfying, and he was already hopelessly addicted.

When Wu Liehu saw this guy, he almost didn't recognize him as a governor in his thirties. He looked so emaciated and thin that Wu Liehu would believe he was in his sixties or seventies.

Then look at this guy, because of Li Changgeng's defeat, he was so angry that he had a violent urge to vomit. He couldn't even speak, let alone run away, and he collapsed on the ground convulsing.

Last year in southern Anhui, Wu Liehu led his troops to arrest those officials' sons who were addicted to drugs, so he recognized them at a glance: "This corrupt official is having an epileptic seizure due to his drug addiction. Immediately move him to the grass and put a softer piece of clothing on him."

Two soldiers quickly stepped forward, carried the man to the soft grass, and laid a piece of clothing under him.

Wu Liehu carefully recalled what the doctor in southern Anhui had done before, and said, "Also... um, loosen his collar and belt, and lay him on his side so he doesn't suffocate. Then it's up to him to see if he can recover on his own."

Whether or not it can be restored is irrelevant. This corrupt Qing official, who was addicted to drugs, even led a large army to fight against the Han army. Before that, he was fighting against the peasant army in Jinhua and the Red Turban Army in Wenzhou. He is clearly not a good person.

If he can't recover and dies from withdrawal, then he's lucky; he'll suffer less.

He's recovered. Now that he's back, we can take him back and give him a proper account of his crimes. Even beheading him would be considered magnanimous by the King of Han. I'm just afraid that he won't be sentenced to death, but he'll still face punishment.

In the slave mines within the Han territory, people died almost every year. Not only were they tortured to death, but some also committed suicide because they could not bear the suffering.

Besides Ruan Yuan, the governor of Zhejiang, several Qing generals, and even garrison commanders and captains captured by Wu Liehu had all been involved in prostitution to varying degrees. The officialdom in Zhejiang was practically a small den of thieves.

Wu Liehu now understood why the Qing army in Zhejiang was so weak: all the high-ranking civil and military officials were smoking drugs. It would be a miracle if the army had any fighting power.

That same day, Wu Liehu reported all the details of his battle report to Wu Jun.

Upon receiving the news of the victory, Wu Jun was speechless. He had thought that only Hangzhou's troops were weak, which was why he could take it. It turned out that the Qing army in Zhejiang was completely incompetent.

He left Wu Liehu's detachment mainly as a diversionary force, and surprisingly they were able to defeat tens of thousands of Qing troops from Zhejiang, with almost no casualties on their own, only a few suffering from colds and diarrhea due to the change in environment.

"Before coming to Zhejiang, I thought it would be a tough battle, if not a fierce one."

Wu Jun shook his head and said, "I didn't expect that!"

Staff Officer Shi Xiuwen said, "That's just right. We captured the puppet Qing governor of Zhejiang alive, defeated tens of thousands of puppet Qing troops, and took the city of Hangzhou. Although we haven't fought in the other prefectures of Zhejiang yet, the overall situation in Zhejiang is settled. All that's left is to take it one step at a time."

Wu Jun nodded: "That's right. Immediately send a copy of this report to the Marquis of Zhenhai as well. Also, have our cavalry scouts distribute all the letters, and send another one to the Red Turban Army in Wenzhou."

"Yes!"

The telegraph operator waiting below immediately took the letter and withdrew.

the next morning.

Cai Qian, the Marquis of Zhenhai of the Great Han Dynasty, accompanied by Shen Hongwen, came to Hangzhou City with a smile on his face to meet Wu Jun.

"Haha, General Wu, I've heard so much about you!"

"Haha, Marquis Zhenhai, I have already prepared a banquet in the city. I would like to invite you to join me for a chat."

Upon meeting, the two seemed like old friends who hadn't seen each other for years. They held hands and entered Hangzhou city after exchanging only a few words.

Shen Hongwen, as the intermediary accompanying the Han envoy, seemed to have become an outsider.

Cai Qian stayed in Hangzhou for a full day, but no one knows exactly what he ate or talked about.

Anyway, after Cai was brought out, his smile remained unchanged, and his first order was to completely reorganize and reorganize the pirate fleet that had been brought over, and at the same time replace it with a brand new designation - the Great Han Fujian Naval Fleet.

The two naval forces under the command of the Grand Naval Command of the Great Han Dynasty were both river fleets, designated as the Dongting Lake Naval Force and the Yangtze River Naval Force, respectively.

It was completely separate from the Navy's designation; even the Navy's designation was actually decided before the deployment.

If Cai Qian accepts, he will be granted the designation of the Fujian Naval Force.

If they don't accept it, then they don't accept it! After Cai Qian's Fujian naval fleet completed its reorganization, it immediately headed south back to the border of Fujian and Zhejiang. After that, it did nothing but attack any navy that came from the south.

Cai Qian's fleet consisted mostly of pirate groups. While they possessed considerable naval strength, their combat effectiveness on land was worrisome.

This is a common problem among pirate groups, and even Koxinga was not immune to it. Koxinga was truly invincible in naval warfare, but his land warfare was woefully inadequate.

Therefore, Nie Yu's expectations for Cai Qian were always the same: to block the Qing army's Fujian navy. It would be best if he could win, but it didn't matter if he couldn't. Just block the Fujian navy from heading north.

Without the assistance of the Fujian navy, the Han army posed no threat in the southeast; the Green Standard Army and the Eight Banners of Fujian were no threat to the Han army.

Even the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, Jue Luo Changlin, it's hard to say whether he would dare to march north alone.

After all, how much real ability and confidence can you expect from a governor who has made great contributions and risen through the ranks by killing innocent people and claiming credit for them?

While Cai Qian led the Fujian naval fleet of the Great Han southward to the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang, the Red Turban Army also officially announced that it would lead the entire Wenzhou Prefecture to surrender to the Great Han. Qu Wenguang, the leader of the Red Turban Army, also revealed the official position of commander granted to him by the Great Han.

The position of commander was not very high; it was even lower than that of someone who conquered a prefecture and surrendered it.

But that doesn't matter; the official rank is low, and only those who make great contributions can be rewarded.

Otherwise, if the starting point is too high, how will the King of Han reward you?
Seeing that the Wenzhou Red Turban Army had made its stance clear and announced its submission to the Han Dynasty, the Eighteen Bureaus of the Jinhua Prefecture, which had been badly defeated by the Qing army, hesitated for a long time before finally choosing to submit to the Han Dynasty as well.

After all, these rebels from the 18th Bureau were, to put it bluntly, a peasant uprising, without any "gentry class" or "intellectuals" mixed in.

This wasn't meant to be sarcastic; rather, the reasons for the Eighteenth Bureau's resistance were clearly more genuine than those of Qu Wenguang and his group.

The Red Turban Army, established by Qu Wenguang and others, included landlords, merchants, and even former Qing soldiers. Part of their rebellion stemmed from the harsh oppression by the government, while another part was that they realized the puppet Qing dynasty was doomed and they themselves were also on the verge of collapse, so they decided to take a gamble while they still had the ability to survive.

If you succeed, you'll be promoted and ennobled; if you fail, you'll just die. How can a rebellion not result in death?

The Eighteen Bureaus' militia had an even simpler reason: they simply couldn't survive because the puppet Qing government was exploiting them too much, so they united to fight back against the taxes.

They resisted for a while, and then they rebelled.

Now, the puppet Qing government has been defeated by the Han army, and the Qing soldiers who had previously persecuted, oppressed, and killed them have also been defeated and captured by the Han army. The Han army has taken over Jinhua Prefecture, and it seems to have a pretty good reputation; the people and merchants are all praising them.

I heard that they were going to distribute land to the ordinary people and tenant farmers. The instructors from the Han army even told them that as long as they became subjects of the Han Dynasty, everyone would have land to cultivate, and if they were oppressed by corrupt officials, the King of Han would stand up for them.

They didn't know if it was true or not, but the things the instructors described certainly captivated them.

Jinhua Prefecture, Wenzhou Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, and the Zhoushan Islands—in just over half a month, they had all come under the control of the Han Dynasty.

Yanzhou Prefecture later received the news, struggled for a long time, and was also coerced by the powerful families and clans in the city, making it impossible for them to control the situation.

Zhang Zhuo, the prefectural judge of Yanzhou, and Li Chengduan, the magistrate of Jiande County, together disbanded the local militia and sent a letter to the Han Dynasty to surrender.

With the capture of Yanzhou Prefecture, along with the territories of several prefectures from the previous battles, the situation has become even more complex.

One-third of Zhejiang was thus adorned with the red banner of the Han Dynasty.

Next, Wu Jun and Wu Liehu still did not join forces. Wu Jun even divided his troops again, forcibly separating a town's regular troops and two thousand militiamen as a detachment to attack Shaoxing Prefecture and Ningbo Prefecture.

Wu Liehu's detachment marched south to attack Chuzhou Prefecture and Quzhou Prefecture.

Qu Wenguang of Wenzhou Prefecture can march north to attack Taizhou Prefecture. Even if he fails to capture it, he can raise the banner of the Great Han and wait for the Han army flanking force in the north to arrive and launch a joint attack.

Wu Jun himself led 4,000 Han soldiers and 1,000 militiamen, leaving only 1,000 militiamen to garrison Hangzhou.

The remaining 5,000 troops were all sent north to attack Huzhou and Jiaxing.

After conquering these two areas, we can coordinate with the Han King's army to quickly take over half of Jiangsu.

The Han King's army on the eastern route had already set off from Anqing Prefecture and then joined forces with Yang Fang's Fifth Division in Taiping Prefecture, preparing to attack Jiangning Prefecture.

With the navy responsible for transporting provisions and supplies along the way, the Han King's army actually consumed the least amount of money and food.

To ensure everything goes smoothly, in addition to the cooperation of the Zhejiang army, Bai Nan, who is currently fighting in Huainan, will also break through Chuzhou and head south from there.

With three forces attacking Jiangning Prefecture from all sides, the Han army is determined to win this time and reclaim Nanjing!
Moreover, we must act quickly and decisively, ending the war in Jiangnan within three months, otherwise the Han Dynasty's finances and supplies will truly be insufficient.

This was a war involving the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of troops, and the amount of food and supplies consumed by the militia was countless.

(End of this chapter)